A person with normal intelligence understands that the fist and the fingers are not separate. You cannot have a fist without fingers, and fingers can at any time become a fist. Outer path practitioners maintain that the fist is real, but the fingers are not. Hinayana practitioners insist that, since a fist can become fingers and fingers can become a fist, neither one is real. Both fist and fingers are non-existent.

What are the fist and the fingers? For outer path practitioners, the fist is the atman, or the universal self, and the fingers are people and other things in the realm of phenomena, which are illusory components of the supreme reality. Hinayana practitioners maintain that the universal self, as well as phenomena, are illusory.

Yung-chia mentions the famous Buddhist allegory of the finger and the moon. Teachings, beliefs, ideas, experiences, phenomena and the self are like a finger pointing at the moon of enlightenment. You should look at the finger, see where it is pointing, and then go to the moon. Do not grab hold of the finger. You must let it go or else you will never get enlightened. Mistaking the finger for the moon, clinging to illusions, fabricating strange ideas to explain experiences: these are common problems that people encounter when they practice.

However, we must use illusion to get rid of illusion. Buddhadharma cannot be taught to human beings without language, symbols and the ordinary phenomena of our world; but many people, when they hear the teachings, hold onto them as if they were the ultimate goal. They cannot succeed in their practice with such an attitude.