不二

目を推??二ツ出??る秋?月 — ?涯

Press the eyeballs And lo! Two autumnal moons. — Sengai, trans. by Daisetz T. Suzuki

Suzuki interprets this poem to mean that reality (a bright and clear moon) will “take on a false appearance” if “obstructed.”

Let’s try Sengai’s experiment. Look at something and, with your finger, press one of your eyes. Now you see double.

Ask yourself: which reality is true? One moon, or two? Aren’t they both? Isn’t neither one? Why can’t you decide? Shouldn’t the answer be literally right in front of you?

Dogen wrote:

Are there many ways to see one thing, or is it a mistake to see many forms as one thing?

Is it a mistake to say that the moon being seen by each eye is the same thing? We tend to take experience—and vision in particular—so straightforwardly. “Ah,” we say, “this is the way reality is, what I see before me: these objects.” Does Sengai’s experiment upset this at all? Please start from your own experience.