Killing the Buddha

A meditation.

[quote]Killing the Buddha

There’s an old saying, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”

Who’s that Buddha? What does it mean to “meet” the Buddha? What does killing the Buddha imply?

The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, on attaining enlightenment, is said to have realized that all beings, just as they are, are Buddhas. If that’s so, meeting a Buddha on the road should be a pretty commonplace event! So should being a Buddha on the road! But that’s where the word “meeting” comes in. It implies encountering something or someone outside or other than oneself. We all come to practice carrying around images or ideals of who we should be and what we imagine a Teacher or Buddha should look like. And we may chase after individuals that for a while seem like they live up to our image, ignore those who do not, and generally treat ourselves with contempt for not living up to the standards set by our imaginary inner “Buddha.” All this may keep us pretty busy, but it has nothing to do with real practice, which is an awareness of who and what we actually are, not the pursuit of some ideal of who we think we should be. So “killing the Buddha” means killing or wiping out this fantasy image, and “the road” is two fold: the road outside where we look outside ourselves for the ones who have all the answers, and the inner mind road, where we set up all the “shoulds” we must obey to turn ourselves into the Buddhas we don’t believe we already are, but think we must become.

It is said that Shakyamuni’s last dying words to his disciples were, “Be a lamp unto yourselves.” Be your own light, your own authority, your own Buddha. Kill off every image of the Buddha, see who and what you are in this very moment, see that there is no Buddha other than THIS MOMENT.

A psychologist friend recently complained that Buddha’s last words themselves were a trap. (Actually he called them something much less polite!) How can anybody TELL you to be your own authority? In the guise of liberation, these words become just one more dogma that the disciples submit to. Anybody who TELLS you to “Kill the Buddha” is giving a command as self-contradictory as “Be spontaneous!” It’s a good point, and one that shows that this koan and Buddhism in general can’t escape a more complex involvement with issues of authority. Our psychological reality is that we have to learn and practice to achieve our independence, and that learning almost inevitably has to take place within the context of some kind of disciplined practice. Remember we have to “kill the Buddhas” inside as well as outside ourselves. If we take this saying to mean only that we should reject all forms of external authority, we will end up leaving ourselves at the mercy of all sorts of, often unconscious, inner “Buddhas.” Isaiah Berlin distinguished two kinds liberty he called positive and negative liberty. Negative liberty is freedom FROM, freedom from outside interference of one kind or another. Killing the outside Buddha may give us a version of this negative liberty. Positive liberty is freedom TO, the liberty of enabling conditions. And these are what are provided by a Teacher, a practice, a discipline. Berlin emphasized that the two kinds of liberty were conceptually at odds with one another, and an increase in one automatically meant a decrease in the other. And yet, we cannot thrive without both. Without a formal practice, we will never engage the deeply ingrained unconscious determinants of our character. But any practice, any teacher inevitably offers the risk and the temptation to hand over responsibility to someone or something outside of ourselves. The middle way is our balancing of these two truths. There is no one correct way to balance them, and every teacher, every discipline will offer a unique mix. No one can tell you how you, as a particular individual, ought to practice. Each of us must decide and take responsibility for the balance works best for us. That is how we truly can be a “lamp unto ourselves.”
[/quote]
ordinarymind.com/

Its just seemed appropriate right about now.

Are you trying to say that fred smith was Buddah?

That work with Jesus?

Are you saying that fred smith was Jesus?

smokin’ Buddha?

It’s 4:20pm!

only 4.30 hrs to go then. great.

I don’t know. However:

Luke 17:21 (NIV) (please note, some people interpret it as among you rather than within you)

So, you’re saying he’ll come again? Or he’s already here… smurfing?

You know, it’s Friday afternoon and my brain’s already on Sunday.
That’s something like being “on drugs”, but it’s cheaper, and the only hangover’s Monday.

Are you trying to say that you are Hank Williams, Jr.?

I think that this may be a mis-translation.

According to what I know, it is more correct to say that … all beings, just as they are, have a Buddha-nature which gives them the potential to develop into a Buddha.

It’s 7:38!
Stout quaffing time!
Buddha can Wait!
Piece!

Are you trying to say that you are Hank Williams, Jr.?[/quote]
He’s in the Tower of Song, coughing all night long.

Always wondered what those Shriekback lyrics ment…

Gunning for the Buddha.

Mark and Danny in the Greek Hotel
Bold as badgers on a one-take Mission
Got their equipment from a dwarf outside
On the trail of any suspect wisdom
Pond-Life beneath a Southern sky
(They make their move then they head off to the border)
They don’t care as long as you can pay -
Whatever - whatever they say

We’re on the road and we’re gunning for the Buddha
We know his name and he mustn’t get away
We’re on the road and we’re gunning for the Buddha
It would take one shot - to blow him away…

Now’s the time to have some big ideas
Now’s the time to make some firm decisions
We saw the Buddha in a bar down south
Talking politics and nuclear fission
We see him and he’s all washed up -
Moving on into the body of a beetle
Getting ready for a long long crawl
He ain’t nothing - he ain’t nothing at all…

We’re on the road and we’re gunning for the Buddha
We know his name and he mustn’t get away
We’re on the road and we’re gunning for the Buddha
It would take one shot - to blow him away…

Death and Money make their point once more
In the shape of Philosophical assassins
Mark and Danny take the bus uptown
Deadly angels for reality and passion
Have the courage of the here and now
Don’t take nothing from these ½-baked buddhas
When you think you got it paid in full
You got nothing - you got nothing at all…

We’re on the road and we’re gunning for the Buddha
We know his name and he mustn’t get away
We’re on the road and we’re gunning for the Buddha
It would take one shot…

Oh… we’re gunning for the Buddha
We know his name and he mustn’t get away
We’re on the road and we’re gunning for the Buddha
Saying something, saying something unsafe
We’re on the road
Oh… we’re gunning for the Buddha
(Yeah, Yeah)
We’re on the road
You know we’re gunning for the Buddha
You see him blow right there
We’re on the road
We’re gunning, we’re gunning,
We’re gunning on the road
We’re gunning, we’re gunning
We’re gunning for the Buddha
Gunning for the Buddha
Gunning for the Buddha
Gunning for the Buddha

I think it means to beware of false Buddhas. If someone appears to be a source of true wisdom, it is likely a trap as by following them you will not find your own enlightenment.

Beware of those who seem to offer the end of the search for wisdom, for whatever wisdom they offer is not your own soul’s true insight.

This principle also holds true in terms of listening to most of you old timers on Forumosa !! :raspberry: :laughing: :raspberry: :laughing:

If you meet Fred Smith on a forum, ignore him!

I would view this quote in relation to the teachings regarding the illusory and impermanent nature of all things. Buddhism teaches that all things exist in a dependant origination state, and that all things are seen in relative nature to our own frame of mind. “killing” can be understood to mean rejection of the false nature presented when seeing the buddha. The Buddha cannot be “seen” in the base sense of the word as it encompasses something greater and more profound than what can be understood through sight. Therefore we should reject this false understanding lest we be drawn into making conclusions based on our own shallow assumptions.
It has also been said that Sakyamuni went through many phases of enlightenment until he achieved his final enlightenment. At each point through this process, he discovered that his previous understandings had been false, and that new foundations needed to be laid an the old thrown out. Learning from this, we should take note not to firmly attach ourselves to our own beliefs, since later we will realize that we were only looking at things from one side of a vast picture.

Surely by killing the Buddha you push him over the edge into a permanent state of enlightenment? In other words if you meet a Buddha on the road (do him a favour and) kill him. As your man was about to pass on and doubtless was expecting to come back as a Buddha himself this was purely selfish instruction to his erstwhile students.

Just my 2C

Oh and the guy who typed “piece” (sic) was that deliberate irony or just dumb?

[quote=“Edgar Allen”]Surely by killing the Buddha you push him over the edge into a permanent state of enlightenment? In other words if you meet a Buddha on the road (do him a favour and) kill him. As your man was about to pass on and doubtless was expecting to come back as a Buddha himself this was purely selfish instruction to his erstwhile students.

[/quote]

Nope, it doesn’t quite work like that. :laughing:

I always thought of it as a rallying cry to the morally ambiguous and intellectually challenged. Something “witty” to say so as to appear sophisticated when actually you are a moron. “Killing” the buddha is a metaphor for what exactly? Listening to yourself? Buddha said that. What was he supposed to say, “Listen to me”?