Eyes popped out, jaws fell, and mouths remained agape. The disciples had never heard anything like this before. Yet, here was their teacher, who had made this obnoxious statement: ‘If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him.’ He was merely repeating the revered Zen master Linji Yixuan’s words. Then he added, ‘Take a sword and cut his head.’ The disciple debating with him took a while to gather his nerves to counter, ‘And where will I get the sword?’ The teacher laughed as he replied, ‘The same place you got Buddha from.’
The words were still all over the place for the disciples. None of them had any idea what the teacher meant. Like other Zen monks, the teacher was prone to uttering koans (paradoxical anecdotes or riddles) that baffled many disciples, though they were potent enough to open spiritual doors for the sharp ones. However, even by that standard, this seemed to have stretched a tad too far. Going by the usual Zen practice of letting the incomplete-sounding koan hang in mid-air for listeners to decipher, the teacher simply smiled. He was merely referring to the creation of our minds.
Innumerable spiritual aspirants and masters have debated this statement for centuries. Meeting Buddha or your revered deity is the penultimate step, prior to the final frontier of knowledge turning into wisdom. Once you’ve reached there, then what’s their need, spiritual masters ask? So, bow to them with extreme gratitude before proceeding ahead.
Severing the head means going beyond the pleasant image or images the mind has formed. No matter how imposing or revered they might be, clutching on to them is futile. This is similar to what advaitis have advocated for centuries. That’s how the advaiti Totapuri helped Ramakrishna go beyond the duality created by the mind and experience non-duality.
We can apply this philosophy at multiple levels. However great your assets, degrees, designations, awards, ideas, philosophies, religious beliefs, or the image of the one you revere may be, not one of them should be clutched at. Remember that eventually you’ll have to let go of them. Our mind’s habit to clutch onto something is what stops us from progressing, be it in the material world or while seeking the truth.