I would offer a little caution. Sometimes if one peels theapple too far looking for the source of the sweetness, one actually loses the apple. So it is with life.
I feel that Master Dogen and most of the old Zen Masters actually had a more subtle take on this. Don't necessarily think that peeling away all thoughts about things is getting to something more "real" about the thing. Rather, see through the whole spectacle and savor the spectacle too.
Let me offer an analogy. Suppose this life is like a theatre play. Our way is to see it all as a theatre play, recognizing the dreamlike quality, the lights and stage of openness that holds it all (the transcendent) even as we see all the action on the stage (the immanent). In this way, we can enjoy and savor the performance, jump right in, but not get so pulled in that we become trapped by all the drama.
If one were simply trying to reduce distractions and narrative in the wrong way, one might gradually strip the play of all its color and performance. One might that "to really understand the play" I must strip the stage bare, reduce the actors and actions to a minimum, make them silent, etc. to get to the "reality" of the play. However, rather than getting to the essence of the play, one is actually stripping the play of its true power as a play. There is a time to quiet down, simplify (if we are not paying attention to the play, lost in our own thoughts and distractions, we are missing life too), but also there is a time to let the grand spectacle of the whole performance just do its thing!
Or, one might think that one needs to have some "Kensho" experience of a totally bare stage, and that is where one wants to be because the empty stage is "real" while the play is "false." For Soto folks, the open stage is an important reference to be aware us, but the stage is "dead" and dark without the life of the play and actors to make it come to life. We also realize that all pours into all ... the viewers, the actors, the stage, the light, the parking lot outside and the popcorn in your hand ... all flowing together in and out as One Beyond One ... Curtain Up, let the show go on!
For Soto folks, both of the above are not as wise and rich as experiencing the play, letting the play play one, but also being aware (when things get perhaps too sad, too scary, or one's favorite character appear to get killed) that it is just a play with actors ... of which you and I are two too. Sometimes be more aware that "this is just a play", sometimes savor one scene, or one particular line of dialogue, or one prop apple on the table or its sweetness on the tongue. Other times, forget it is like a dream, and toss yourself right in hook line and sinker! Let the show carry you away! All good, times for all that.
I think that there is some "mystical" quality to transcendence, as I describe in my posts above (and although I may be a very boring, down to earth barely "mystic" mystic).
One amazing thing that we discover in realizing that life is like a theatre play is that, we are not merely passive spectators, but also something like partial playwrights and interpreters of the story too. The sentient beings (including you and me) have some choice whether to write peace, satisfaction, generosity etc. into the story or division, anger, selfishness etc. into the story. Further, in living the story, we can interpret it many ways ... with anger or with peace in our viewing hearts, with dissatisfaction or satisfaction in our viewing hearts. So, we not only watch the play, but help create it and constantly give meaning and judgments to what we are seeing.
Amida and the Pure Land are just more fictional characters that some Buddhist story teller created to convey the wonder of this Universal Story to those who need the help of such tales. Some other people may need "Jesus" to get some handle on this story. When your heart makes them real, then they are real ... like all the characters in the show, like the two characters called "you and me" too. We sit Zazen, and become the play and the lights and the stage all as one to realize this wonderful Show of Shows!
SO, enjoy the show, don't make too angry and selfish a show. Realize that the characters that seem to "die" and exit stage left where really just characters all along.
Gassho, J
STLah