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The first step is to cast off the literal translation. This koan is not suggesting that if you are walking down the road and Siddhartha Gautama himself appears before you that you are to take out a weapon and slay him.

Your analysis might begin by asking yourself questions about each of the elements:

What is “the Buddha”? What is the “road”? Where is the “road"? What would it mean to “kill”?

Let’s start with the “road”. Don’t think about this as a physical roadway; koans are rarely to be taken literally. Perhaps the road is the path we are following in life or perhaps it is our contemplative practice.

What would it mean to meet the Buddha while on the contemplative path? Perhaps this refers to thinking that you can clearly imagine what a Buddha is, that you can define the Buddha, or even the notion that you are the Buddha that you imagine or have defined.

We have described a situation where, within your contemplative practice, you think that you have a perfect image or definition of enlightenment. If this occurs, this koan has some instructions for you: “Kill him.” In this case, the “him” is not a person, but instead it is the image or thought of the Buddha or enlightenment.

Our koan can therefore be thought to mean the following:

If, during your contemplative practice, thoughts arise that tell you that you have arrived at a final definition or image of enlightenment, set those thoughts aside and get back to your practice.


workingwithkoans