March 2025 – Dead-Logic

Killing the Buddha

“If you meet the Buddha, kill him.”

I first heard this saying years ago when, as I wandered around on this fairly new invention called “The Internet,” I stumbled upon a website called “Killing the Buddha.”

As the story goes, a monk deep in meditation experiences what he thinks is enlightenment – the awakening, the Buddha-mind – and reports this to his master.

The master explains to the monk that this is nothing special at all, and can even hinder his real progress. The master then instructs: “If you see the Buddha, kill him.”

While various interpretations of this Zen kōan have been offered over the years, I’ve found value in understanding “the Buddha” we encounter to represent our desire for enlightenment rather than enlightenment itself. Humans long to be right, and we generally hate being wrong. That longing can lead us to convince ourselves we know more than we actually do. It’s a typical human habit to assume or just make something up to fill in the gaps in our knowledge.

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Who Am I?

“Who am I?” stands as one of the iconic questions of philosophy, alongside “What is the meaning of life?” and “Is there a God?”

Philosophers throughout history have addressed this question. Rene Descartes suggested that our mind and thoughts are our true identity. John Locke’s criterion for personal identity was self-consciousness, which is the ability to reflect upon yourself. For Locke, possessing memories is what makes you certain of who you are. David Hume dismissed notions of having a “self,” arguing that what we think of as “the self” is nothing more than a bundle of perceptions. We take these perceptions and recombine them into meaning and substance based on our previous experience.

Simple Life Advancement Plan

I call it the “S.L.A.P.” method.

SLAP your way to success!

(Actually I just made up that name as I’m writing this.)

I’m a martial arts instructor, but I am always first and foremost a student. My goal is to learn, and I like to share what I’ve learned with anyone interested in listening. As I’ve been working towards improving the quality of my life since my accident, I’ve come across a few simple but effective ways to help me achieve goals and improve myself and my life in small but meaningful increments. Here’s what I’ve found so far. If you’re interested in getting a SLAP to get yourself into gear, read on…

Nightmares

I always had two distinct nightmares. One was a dragon who would fly down through the clouds and burn me up with his fire breath.

I always had that dream at home, every night.

On weekends I’d stay at my grandparents’ house, where I’d have a different recurring dream.

My weekend recurring nightmare was of giant ant-like creatures (well, “giant” as in the size of a large dog). They marched in formation like those ants who would steal picnic food in old Tom & Jerry cartoons. I’d be lying in my bed and hear them coming. The thumping of drums matched their steps, then they’d surround my bed (my nightmares were rather cinematic in retrospect). The leader bug had a mantis-like head and would stand at the foot of my bed and try to attack my feet (or something). I wasn’t sure what he was trying to do, but if you’re the kind of person who can’t sleep with their feet outside of the covers, you’ll understand the fear I had.

I’d always wake up screaming by that point.