SuttaCentral
Well, then, this is the other interesting aspect that people are commenting on. What is the vessel itself. Or, how do I relate to it – with grasping or without.
As an aside, @stephen the near-to-far shore metaphor is one reason I’m taking a crack at the Dhammapāla commentary on the pāramī 
It is showing me how much I need to understand how compounds are created. It is going to be a long project, for sure.
The vessel is the teaching of the Buddha.
The ‘dispensation’ 
But since we are ‘uninstructed wordlings’, we’ll even cling to that- let alone much less lofty things.
And if we set out alone for the far shore without the proper vessel we’ll never make it.
I believe the Dhamma is like a support wheel on a bycicle. The goal is to lose it.
The following quote is from an article by Ajahn Thanissaro:
The Buddha said that there are two types of people who misrepresent him: those who draw inferences from statements that shouldn’t have inferences drawn from them, and those who don’t draw inferences from those that should.
Unfortunately, he does not list a reference. But I believe he is exactly right. Dhamma is probably hidden between the lines !
Doesn’t the Sutta mention twigs and reeds? In any case, a combination of teaching devices.