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"Kill your father"?

SteadyBlueSteadyBlue
edited February 2011 in Buddhism Basics
So I'm sure you're all familiar with Buddha's quote that involves "If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. If you meet your father, kill your father..." and so on. What is the meaning of that? Don't the precepts discourage killing any sentient being? Surely I'm missing the point here.

Comments

  • SherabDorjeSherabDorje
    It's metaphor. Hyperbole. Overstatement for the sake of making a point. They don't really mean to kill.

    The instruction to kill the Buddha if you meet him on the road is supposed to mean that a Buddha that you meet on the road is not really the Buddha. In the Zen koan context in which the statement takes place, the intent is to direct the student to look inward for the Buddha-nature.

    That's all. I had never heard the one about "kill your father", but it could mean "be your own father" as in "be a light unto yourself, take your own counsel" as far as reaching the Buddha-nature within each human.

    Metaphor.
  • SteadyBlueSteadyBlue
    Ah! Thank you very much.
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    It means to kill all your notions of what you think buddha is. we create this construct of the buddha when we ourselves are the buddha. the buddha nature becomes another ego and that has to be killed as well.

    emptiness of emptiness.
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    to make this more clear:

    the idea of the buddha.
    the idea of the buddha in you.
    the idea of you chasing enlightenment.
    the idea of you as a spiritual seeker.
    the idea of a separate self.
    the idea of the other.

    basically all ideas. kill them. cut them.

    even emptiness itself has to be killed.

    stand no where and where are you?

    hope this helps.
  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    edited February 2011
    its all about ego & attachment

    the translators say the 'mother' is craving & the 'father' is ignorance,

    personally, i take the saying literally

    on the supramundane level, the buddha taught all things are 'not-self', mere natural elements

    but to regard 'our parents' as elements, aggregates & 'not-self' can be difficult

    all the best

    :)
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    Our parents have this blueprint for us when they raise us. They want us to be successful or good at things. Some want us to play sports or play musical instruments. Or some parents don't have a blueprint, so we construct our own.

    I spent most of my life destroying and using that blueprint my parents enforced on me.
    Parents for the most part mean well. They construct this blueprint for their "sanity" and to be perceived usually as good parents.

    Kill the blueprint!

    Thanks DD, you've inspired another metaphor.
  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    :bowdown:
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    :bowdown:
    :bowdown:

    you're awesome man. lots of respect for you. <3
  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    edited February 2011
    No worries. I appreciated your post.
    Kill the blueprint!
    Let us find our inner intelligence, spirit & feel whole.

    :thumbsup:
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    "Hang the DJ...because the music that he constantly plays...it says nothing to me about my life...hang the...DJ...Hang the DJ hang the DJ hang the DJ.."

    ~ Morrissey




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