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If
you see Buddha, kill him.
-Zen
koan
For
the first several hundred years after the Buddha died, there were
no images of him. Only his dharma, or teachings, were passed
on from generation to generation. Eventually, however, the
people wanted an image to remind them of their ideal, and that's
when and how Buddha statues came to be.
The
good thing about having statues of Buddha is they remind followers
of the ideals they're striving for in their lives. The
difficult thing about Buddha statues is that people may be tempted
to idolize the statue, and forget to seek the state of
consciousness the Buddha represented.
It's
easy for us to idolize our mentors and teachers, the people who
encourage us and help us to grow. It can be easy to look
around us and think others have the key to enlightenment, success,
joy.
Stop
idolizing other people.
Look
in the mirror.
You
have everything you need to learn your lessons, grow, achieve
success. You have all the courage you need to fail, then try
again. You have everything you need, within you, to live and
follow your own path with heart.
Not
only are you right where you need to be, but you can get wherever
you want to go from here. And you and I have all the power
we need to learn the lessons we came here to learn.
God,
teach me that all I need is within me.
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