Don't Love Dragons Like Sekko

"There is a Buddhist expression, "Don't love dragons like Sekko." There was a man called Sekko who loved dragons. Sculptures, paintings, figurines, ornaments- his whole house was filled with dragons in one form or another. Well, one day a real dragon happened to hear about Sekko and figured that since he loved dragons so much, surely he would be delighted to meet a real one. But when the dragon stuck his head through the window of Sekko's room, Sekko expired on the spot!"
"Sekko is a symbol for preferring imitation to the real thing. A person who tells everyone how important practice is and then gives up soon after he starts because it's too hard to take is like a person who just likes sculpted dragons. When you meet a real "dragon" you should be filled with joy and resolve to wrestle with it."

-Kosho Uchiyama (Opening the Hand of Thought, p.119)