The Benefits of Buddhist Practice for Everyone
How To Be A Buddha, Without Becoming A Buddhist
Be More Mindful, Without Giving Up Your Netflix Subscription
*Trigger warning. Contains content related to military trauma*
“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”
Over a decade ago as a new, bright-eyed Buddhist, I heard my teacher refer to this ninth-century quote and I felt a dizzying confusion. My mind churned. How could I reconcile my belief the Buddha should be revered as the celebrated founder of this peaceful religion and the violence that’s suggested in that quote? Hadn’t I taken a vow not to kill?
Plot twist. As you might have guessed, it’s a metaphor. Now, years later, that quote full of juxtaposition, has become one of the things I love (and hate) about my Buddhist practice. It asks me to slow down, look deeper, and be curious.
There are two ways to conceptualize the Buddha you meet on the road. One is how we see others and the other is how we see ourselves.
The Buddha Within Others
As a Buddhist Chaplain, I work with active duty military trauma, and the most powerful tool I have is the concept of ‘Buddha Nature’. The Buddha within each one of us.
Buddha nature refers to the inherent potential of all humans to awaken and be filled with compassion and wisdom. Believing this about every person I meet with makes it easier for me to see them as inherently good. Especially when the soldiers can’t see it within themselves because of the things they’ve seen and done.
The stories often start like this…
“I was hauling ass back to base to get medical for my friend who was bleeding out, turned the tank around a corner, and rolled right over two mothers and five children, smashing them like pancakes. I couldn’t even stop.”
“The little car was speeding towards the gate. Waving my arms and firing into the sky, I had warned them to stop, they kept charging at us. My sergeant ordered me to fire at the car. I killed a four-year-old girl, the same age as my own daughter.”
And they end like this…
“What sort of monster kills moms and babies?”
“That little girl haunts me every time I look at my own daughter. I don’t deserve to be a dad.”
I sit with these stories, heart breaking open, and see the Buddha nature in them. Buddha nature is what allows them to feel the grief, guilt, and sorrow for what happened to them. But the soldiers who tell the stories, can not see any goodness left in themselves after what they’ve done. They would as soon kill the Buddha within, and many of them do take their own lives.
Focusing on the innate goodness of these people I am able to see them whole. They are not broken and in need of fixing. They are not weak, thus helpless. They may not look like a Buddha, but don’t let that fool you, they are as much a Buddha as you and me.
This reminds me of the Joan Osborne song lyrics,
What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus. Tryin’ to make his way home?
What if we all believe the goodness of our Buddha nature?
Lesson one of how to be a Buddha without being a Buddhist. See everyone you meet as whole and be a welcoming non-judgemental presence.
The Buddha Within Ourselves
If you’re reading this article, you are likely a spiritual seeker or, at the least, have an interest in Buddhism as a philosophy of living. Both of those desires are what drew me to becoming a Buddhist chaplain. Ok, that and the hope of enlightenment!
But, as my teacher, Roshi Joan Halifax says, this is not a self-improvement project!
There is another way of understanding ‘if you see the Buddha kill him’. The moment we take one step forward to “knowing” something, is the moment we’ve simultaneously taken two steps back on our spiritual path.
The more we conceptual knowledge and attach ourselves, to what we have learned the more likely we become afraid of losing what we know.
It’s another paradox of Buddhist practice.
The minute we are aware of our Buddha nature and ability to rise above suffering, we’ve also lost its ability to enlighten us.
When we are able to see the broken as whole, and the helpless as strong, then we are able to see things as they truly are. This ability not to become attached to conceptualizing that what we ‘know’ will give us an edge over others is key to keeping an open beginner's mind.
Lesson two of how to be a Buddha without being a Buddhist. Stay curious and keep a beginner’s mind at the same time you pursue knowledge of self and other.
Zen teacher, Richard Rose, is quoted saying, “Enlightenment is an accident, practice makes us accident-prone.”
Practice being a Buddha, without any attachment to becoming a Buddhist. And keep your Netflix subscription!
