Point to the moon and look at the yellow calendar

In Buddhist scriptures, "finger refers to the moon, not the moon" means that when the Buddha refers to the moon, everyone thinks that the finger is the moon, which means that people who have not yet realized misinterpret Buddhism and often understand it literally, but they can't understand the true meaning of Tathagata.

For example, in academic debates, both sides often "express their opinions" and "hold their own words", and the problem often lies in the inability to "seek common ground" first. In fact, it is more important to seek common ground while reserving differences. Because "some kind of consensus" is the premise of argument. However, many times, it's not that people can't find "the same", but that they made the mistake of "pointing at the moon" and "failing to achieve their goal" when they realized this, and finally they had to "talk to ducks".

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Source background:

There is a story about Huineng, the sixth ancestor of Zen Buddhism, which tells that Huineng enlightened a yogi. He said that truth is like the bright moon in the sky, and words just point to the moon. Fingers can point to the moon, but fingers are by no means the moon itself. Understanding the bright moon doesn't have to be through fingers, and the right direction pointed by fingers is just a stage aid.

"Finger refers to the moon, not the moon" is a Buddhist case, which is quoted many times in Buddhist scriptures.

For example, the grasp of human nature and the understanding of management mode are originally very simple things. You choose some samples in a structured way, understand and observe them, and it is easy to draw correct conclusions. These things are close to common sense in life. If you must start from the theoretical paradigm and the master's level of elaboration, you must circle yourself into the maze. It may not be possible to sort out the ugliness of children, but this is actually "simplifying the complex" and it takes a lot of time and energy.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-Buddhist scriptures