A finger pointing at the moon

I'm not sure I can pinpoint the original source of the old saying, but I can be specific that it has appeared in a Bruce Lee film. He says something about not looking at the finger that points to the moon, or you'll miss all the heavenly golry, or glow-ry, or something. It is also said of Buddhist teaching that it is like a finger pointing at the moon – it is not the moon itself.

I've just been thinking about this in relation to art. Art, I think, is a gesture towards something. Now, here's another quote or saying that I can't pinpoint, but someone said something about a piece of art never being finished, only abandoned. A gesture can never be finished, exactly; it's part of a relay. The gaze of the onlooker (and the mind) is supposed to take over where the gesture leaves off.

I've been thinking about this because it seems to me that art rarely (perhaps never) really captures something (how can a pointing hand, or any hand, grasp the moon?). Then again, do you want to put the moon in a cage? As long as the moon is free, the soaring imagination that looks aloft is free with it. (Perhaps why I still prefer books to films etc.)

Even fans of a particular artist are often hard-pressed to name one particular piece of art by the artist in question that is perfect, but they understand the overall gesture of the artist, and this gesture has stirred something in them.

And then I began to think that, perhaps, in a way, this gesture does capture something perfectly. After all, the gesturing hand and finger are 'things in the world' just as the moon is, or, if you want to put it another way, 'parts of creation'. Yes, even human creativity and the literal hand from which it flows, is part of creation.

And what if someone is pointing at the moon and you happen to notice that they have a really quite startingly lovely finger?

Have you ever noticed that when you're trying to point something out to a dog, they don't look where you're pointing? They look at the tip of your finger. And then they usually sniff it, and may even lick it. You have to actually touch something with the tip of your finger before they realise what you're on about. And then they eat it. Or have sex with it. Or look at you in a puzzled fashion. I suppose dogs have different cultural expectations. Dogs never really understand that a manuscript is a pointing finger. They tend to think it's a carpet, or a doormat, and leave muddy footprints over it as they rush happily over to sniff your finger, which was pointing at a little mouse, which has now disappeared. I'm not sure dogs can look at the moon. I've heard it said that dogs can't look up. Is this true?

I'll have to test it out by pointing to the moon next time I see a dog. But, the thing is, I'll have to actually touch the moon with the tip of my finger before the dog realises what I'm on about. And then I wonder what will happen.

I'd like to see a Buddhist dog-training kennel. I wonder how the dogs and monks would get on.

See, I give you my best thoughts here all for free. I could be a millionaire by now!