Killing the Buddha [debunking the political messiah]

Ordinary Mind Zendo ^ | January 7, 2002 | Barry Magid

[Uncle Ralph]

[emphasis added --ed.]

[N.B. "Kill the Buddha" is a metaphysical metaphor not to be construed as a literal. --ed.]

 
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."

[Vince Ferrer]

Far out, man

[TigersEye]

If you want to change the world change yourself.

[allmost]

The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, on attaining enlightenment, is said to have realized that all beings, just as they are, are Buddhas.
That's interesting and utterly false.

[Arthur McGowan]

Question authority.

Who says?

[TigersEye]

Control freaks.

[sergeantdave]

One time more guys stopped in for the Friday night poker game then expected. So I drove to the Maharishi center in Cobb Mountain to borrow a few folding chairs.

When I asked for three extra chairs, the fellow at the gate said, “Sure, no problem.”

i still don’t know what he meant by that. Damn koans.

[dennisw]

Gyate Gyate Hara Gyate

[ninonitti]

That's interesting and utterly false.

I'm sure you can enlighten us further your Buddhaness.

[shadowgovernment]

Nice post...Buddha would never vote for the lesser of two evils.
Buddha was a conservative long before the ideas of the west came about.
Freedom from the constrictions of big government would fit nicely in Buddhism,seeing things as they are, frees us from
the madness of socialism and all the fear mongering of the
left and the right.
Vote McCain or Obuma would be anti budda, as both are men
who have lost their soul to agendas that hide truth
and usurp power from the free people of America..
In this election Buddha would vote the third way, or no way.
For McCain's sell out of open borders, free speech, global warming bs and lastly ,ignoring the Constitution for him is much too convenient
for OBuma nothing need be said other than: big government socialist,dishonest as the day is long.

[ovrtaxt]

So I’m a Buddhist. Who knew?

Or Buddha was overtaxed... yeah, he probably was.

[shadowgovernment]

“So I’m a Buddhist. Who knew?”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>......................

If you can see the BS of left and right and all the “isms”

If you are rigourous in holding that truth above all must rule your life..

Then no one can control you

You are free

why care if you are a Buddha, that is enough.

[ovrtaxt]

lol agreed! If you’re free internally, the control freaks have no foothold. Oh, they might push us around a little here and there, but they’ll never be our gods.

[shadowgovernment]

“If you’re free internally, the control freaks have no foothold. Oh, they might push us around a little here and there, but they’ll never be our gods.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>............
lets hope all the FR family can support your statement.

after all the leaders we have today came from many of us making them “Idols “or “fear” making us vote against our
true nature..compromising with the lesser of two evils does not produce good, but many still have not learned that lesson. perhaps this year, perhaps.

[mosaicwolf]

This all means something to people who actually believe the universe and everything in it is reality.

[musicman]

[HangnJudge]

If you want to change the world change yourself.

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order;
to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order;
to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life;
we must first set our hearts right.
Confucius

[shadowgovernment]

“This all means something to people who actually believe the universe and everything in it is reality.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>........
LOL, if you hold to this, try stopping the next train by standing in front of it..the universe will win that one.
LOL.

[TigersEye]

Thank you but I am trying to get away from the neurosis of long lists. ;^)