Answer: Kill him.

It’s a famous Zen koan that highlights the importance of evolving into a better human being, rather than a robot following commands. Link below.

SOURCE & EXPLANATION

Everyone’s fave search engine, Google, breaks it down thusly…

Attributed to the ninth-century Chinese monk Linji Yixuan, it means one should kill off any external or internal images of Buddha, whether they are statues, a deified figure, or a fixed idea, because the real Buddha is within.

Core meanings of the phrase

Kill your fixed ideas:

The phrase is a warning against clinging to a conceptual or idolized Buddha. Enlightenment is a path of continuous questioning and personal realization, not a destination to be frozen in time.

Find your own Buddha nature:

It suggests that the Buddha you see is not the ultimate reality. The phrase encourages followers to find their own inner Buddha nature rather than an external one.

Let go of attachments:

It is a powerful metaphor for letting go of any attachment that can become a hurdle on your path, including attachment to a teacher, a specific teaching, or a sense of having “arrived”.

Break conceptualization:

Ultimately, “killing the Buddha” means destroying your conceptualizations of reality, including your spiritual beliefs, to achieve a more authentic and direct experience of the truth.

A nicer version of the koan is: you meet a man claiming to be the Buddha on a bridge —what do you do?

Answer: Toss him over the side.

I’ve been thinking of this much lately.

I’ve had a ton of teachers throughout my travels in many aspects of life. When I was a Guardian Angel back in the 90s in NYC, my Angel call sign was Seeker… I sought out many teachers and gurus. That was my thing. I was a pretty religious Christian for much of my early life, was in a couple of cults at different times, was in the New Age racket (and, sadly, yes, that is what it is), I was in direct sales and high-pressure sales and marketing systems, trained in a legion of martial arts systems, under different masters, writing gurus, oh my goodness, the list goes on and on.

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It’s sad when someone you admired and respected reveals their true self to be, well, neither admirable nor worthy.

Still, it’s an important step forward in one’s journey... as you sift through the various teachers and gurus you find as you navigate life and its lessons, you will learn and pick up things, and often from unexpected sources... even dishonest, gaslighting, egotistical masters pretending to be wise but, well, not, they have lessons, too, that are worthy, even if they themselves are not.

But they want to keep you mired in their backwash, they’ll resist criticism, change, and resist seeing you as a person rather than a product (product in this instance means money from you or worship) and they’ll gaslight the f out of you to keep the status quo as it is... with THEM up high as the sole word of wisdom, you agreeing with them... because that is their world.

That is not supporting a student; that is the student supporting the teacher’s ego.

Not cool.

The best teachers I have met and worked with learn from the students as much as the students learn from them, sharing the journey with the student, sharing success, failures and mistakes... not worried about ego... and are often the first to say, “I’ve taught you everything I can... now it’s time for you to leave the safety of the nest and make your own way.”

The best instructors, the best guides, the very best and honest wise folks all know and understand that their position in your life is temporary, that the goal is to pass on wisdom so that the younger person can survive longer and live better than they had. So the pupil doesn’t make the same mistakes the guru did.

They want to get you in a position where you make your own way.

A false prophet, an unethical guru, wants to keep you right where you are, worshiping them, paying them, and above all else, not questioning them.

I’ve seen this dynamic A LOT. Too much.

This is the ultimate thing.

A real guide, a real master, a real teacher, is someone who wants to set you free.

A real one has little to no ego.

They don’t gaslight you.

Don’t be beholden to others beyond a reasonable doubt.

Critical thinking is an imperative part of evolving as a being. Imperative.

Not being allowed to question the master, the guru, the teacher… that any negative thoughts (ie, critical thinking) is bad, well, that’s a cover for tomfoolery, in my long experience as a journeyman, and a tell that they don’t have your best interest at heart and seek only to control you, not free you.

One thing I enjoy about BJJ (the martial art system) is that it’s an evolving form of combat, and means-tested every class on the mat. You get to see for yourself whether it works in real time, and new moves, theories, and concepts are invented in the system every year. It’s not set in stone. It flows. It’s free.

Avoid gurus who shy away from anyone else testing their concepts, steer clear of gaslighting teachers who refuse to own their own actions and choices, read up on the NLP techniques of control, and remember, a real one wants to set you free.

In CIRCLE OF IRON, a film co-written by Bruce Lee (he was initially going to star with James Coburn, after Lee died, it was made with David Carridine and is not really a good movie, unfortunately.) A man seeking a true master engages in all manner of challenges to find a book containing the ultimate knowledge of life.

He endures much, finds the book, opens it, and sees the truth.

It’s a bad movie, but it has a great ending.

Remember, knowledge is supposed to set you free. If it doesn’t, if it ties you to a guru or a system that controls you… toss him, her, or all of it over the side of the bridge.

Stay safe on your journey, friends, and remember, true freedom rests inside us all.

Please tip whatever you can spare to keep me writing. I’d appreciate it. These are challenging times for everyone, I know. If you can’t at this time, that’s fine, please leave a comment wishing me well; that’s as valuable as cash. Take care and stay safe.

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