Question
Don’t get so worked up, you who practice the “great sitting” and open
your heart to me while insulting me! If you see “the” Buddha, kill him, because there
is nothing to see!
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
Master Keizan explains that the precept not to kill means not killing the Buddha.
If you speak of killing, you must expect a forceful reaction. Words can kill, or at least prevent true life, so do not say just anything on the pretext that you read it somewhere. Above all, do not use the masters’ words carelessly without truly making them your own.
As for there being nothing to see, that is precisely what the sage calls “SEEING.”
But for the ignorant person, it is simply called being blind.
Kosen