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<\/a><\/p>\nA couple points today. First, one important insight that several practitioners have had from contemplating, \u201cTo convey the self toward the 10,000 dharmas to do practice\/verification is illusion,\u201d is from understanding \u201cto convey\u201d as \u201cto express.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The issue (rather than somehow to avoid illusion) becomes how<\/span><\/span> to express the self. As a monk? As a social worker? As a lover? As an artist? As a friend?<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s the macro-picture and then there is the micro-picture \u2013 how to express this<\/span><\/span> fleeting dew-drop moment? What form and color from the 10,000 dharma paint pallet can best be conveyed now?<\/span><\/p>\n A couple Shobogenzo fascicles take this up and I offer them for you here: \u201cTalking of Mind, Talking of Nature<\/span><\/a>\u201d and \u201c<\/span>Within a Dream, Expressing a Dream<\/span><\/a>\u201d (the first link takes you to a translation, the second to a little of Taigen Leighton expressing his dream within a dream within his book\u2026because I don\u2019t see a translation online although Kaz Tanahashi has a good one in <\/span>Enlightenment Unfolds<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n The second point is the series of metaphors from the Genjokoan<\/span><\/span> commentary about the relationship between illusion and verification. The mundane and sacred are not only entwined but in a very intimate relationship! The first metaphor is from Xuefeng:<\/span><\/p>\n All buddhas in the past, present and future dwell in fire and turn the great dharma wheel.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFire\u201d here is this burning, phenomenal, conveying life. Fire is not always dramatic. Sometimes, like the fire-ish leaves above, the fire is subtle and soft.<\/p>\n The second is from Xuansha:<\/p>\n