I am not so sure if this qualifies as a koan, but is surely interesting.
There is an old saying (in Zen):
"If you meet the Budhha on the road, kill him".
At first sight, nothing in the sentence above makes even an iota of sense. First, we all know Budhha died ages ago, so how can we meet him on the road? Second, even if we do meet him, why and how to kill him?
Read on if you decide you are not going to think over this any further on your own.
The first thing we must realize, and it is that 'the road' is not literal! The 'road' signifies the path of spiritual progress. And there is a good explanation of this puzzle in realizing just that. As this guy points it out, what is meant by Buddha is any knowledgable or seemingly knowledgable person. And by kill him, the advice is to shun him or disregard him. Taken together, the hidden meaning or the surmise is 'If on the path of spiritual progress, you see a person claiming to be an authority, disregard him'. Like Shakyamuni himself said, 'Be a lamp unto thyself'. Remove all authority, follow your brain, and analyze everything for yourself. The whole saying does make sense in this manner.
I would like to propose a different, personal interpretation as follows: Buddha correctly identified the root cause of all sorrow as 'desire'. As per him, the desire to have what you dont have or be what you are not, leads to all agony and suffering. In the path of spiritual progress, the first step is to leave all material desires to become the enlightened one. One needs to have a sole aim in life, and that is to realize the truth. But the above sentence asks us to go one step further. On this path towards truth, the seeker reaches a point where he has a sole desire and that is to be enlightened, to meet the Buddha. But the desire to become enlightened itself proves as a hindrance in the path of being enlightened. The right thing to do at this point of time is to leave or kill even this desire of being Enlightened and become truly desireless just like Shakyamuni. Killing the desire to be a Buddha is the only way to become Buddha.
Thus, one must not even heed 'Buddha' on the path, and shun (kill) him.
I am hoping to write here more frequently. A great man once said that if a man has a good thought in an obscure, unknown corner of earth and died immediately thereafter, this good thought will still do the world some good. So, in order to not take any chances, I am planning to put all my thoughts here hoping some of them might do some good to someone. If not, that is fine as well. That said, dont take this too seriously because I dont!
8 comments:
I disagree with the statement that - killing the desire to be a Buddha, is the only way to become a Buddha. I recall Swami Vivekananda's beautiful arguments. The desire for enlightenment is like a log of burning wood while the other desires are logs of wood. When the burning log is burning fiercely enough, it not only burns itself, but also the other logs. So, ultimately the state of desire-less-ness is attained.
But again desiring to be a Buddha, would not mean desiring the power of Buddha, the name of Buddha or the fame of a Buddha. Because, if this is the desire you are not desiring Buddha himself but a particular attribute of Buddha. But if you desire to attain knowledge like Buddha, admire him for this sole achievement, and I compare this desire with that log of wood.
And as to the quote
"If you meet the Budhha on the road, kill him"
To me it means killing the ego, When we keep walking on the road, a stage comes when we think that we are knowledgeable enough, attaining a state of saturation. And then there is an ego associated with that incomplete but apparently almost complete knowledge.
As per Buddhism , a real Buddha knows that he does not exist! So, if you meet a Buddha, If you begin to see a Buddha in self, kill him! Kill that ego! It might not seem very relevant but let me elucidate.
Almost every great clan of Counter-Strike looks at a SK clan in it. Almost every amateur of Advaitin, with a theoretical understanding looks at a Sankara in himself. Almost every amateur martial-artist, looks at a Bruce Lee in himself. There is an ego marked with progress and this ego by itself can act as a threat in the path of progress. But why?
If I look at a Sankara in myself and if I let this ego grow for a long time, and if make a blog entry on Advaita and if some stranger pops up and writes a comment criticizing something, my ego cannot readily allow me to see his points. On the contrary, a person with a low/no ego can learn really fast. So, this is what I think it means.
To conclude, let me write down a saying by Ramana Maharshi, pointed out to me by Surya.
If you want to attain peace, Before saying “I want Peace”, kill the “I” or the ego, kill the “want” or the desire and you will be automatically left with Peace.
Thanks for the comment Krishna.
I think desire is again the cause of ego as well, as per Buddha. Simply put, a student aspires to be a Master; and that creates agony and sorrow for him. In the burning logs example, the log of desire to realize the Self does not burn completely although others are gone.
So to say 'kill Buddha' means 'kill the ego' is also saying 'kill the desire'. Unless there is an ego, there cannot be a desire (for 'who' will desire); and without a desire, there will be no ego (because ego invariably leads to some expectations from onself and others.)
Like Ramana says, remove both 'I' and 'want' and you get peace. So remove both the ego and desire (kill Buddha) and whats left is peace!
You dont seem to have grasped my point, the desire to attain the state of Buddha is like a desire for desirelessness. It is like a burning log that burns all other logs.
The desire for desirelessness is not a desire. Formlessness is not a form, Colorless is not a color!
I just saw it as simply follow your own path, do not try to be someone else, everyone has their own path so you cannot try to fulfill someone else's or be led by someone else.
like if you have guru, you can listen to him/her but not try to become him/her.
like how all the followers of buddha, tried to be exactly like him
"But the desire to become enlightened itself proves as a hindrance in the path of being enlightened. The right thing to do at this point of time is to leave or kill even this desire of being Enlightened and become truly desireless just like Shakyamuni."
hey pretty cool!
Thanks both you guys!
Krishna, I am saying desire, ego both are the creations of an unrealized mind and need to be killed (which is what 'Buddha' refers to here). I was stressing more on 'desire' since it is what Buddha taught. Both "I' and 'want' need to be gone.
Nandini, what you say is the first interpretation in a sense. I think the 'generalization' of not having any desire (not just of becoming like the Master) is a deeper teaching. Anyway, it is just a personal interpretation.
All desire arises out of ignorance. Desire is sacred. It is desire which moves this world. it is out of desire that progresses in the material world and it is also out of desire that man progresses in the spiritual domain. Or else why does Bheema in the mahabharata say, kaama is the highest purusartha.
THe idea is hence not to negate desire but lower desires should be given up for higher desires
Even the knowledge of the self is nothing but a form of ignorance. (because ultimately as Shankara says the self is NOT an object of knowledge) But a superior form of ignorance arising from knowledge like the burning log can destroy all other forms of ignorance. The final obstacle to liberation is to realize that the bondage to samsara itself is an illusion and hence, the final step is to desire nothing, not even moksha. That is perfect desirelessness. For the bhakta, when he attains bhagawan, he desires nothing else. Thus, desirelessness can be attained both by bhakti and jyana.
I am not sure about not being buddha either. Didnt Vivekananda himself say "it is not enough to say, i want to be like buddha....."...one has to BE BUDDHA.
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