Why vote for Buddha...

Killing the Buddha is a notion that appeals to my childish, anarchistic inner-rebel. But it is a profound notion: that all my ideas, notions, feelings and beliefs about spirituality could be masking me from the truth.

Being in the moment is a tricky thing, because there are many different types of moment. I cannot get in synch with the billionths of seconds that are the increments of time within atoms, so I always come back to my breath - a metronome I can understand and resonate with.

Here are a couple of thoughts from others on the subject:

"Why kill the Buddha? Because the Buddha you meet is not the true Buddha, but an expression of your longing. If this Buddha is not killed he will only stand in your way."

From "Killing The Buddha"

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"The Buddha starts by sweeping away the past as the container of wisdom. It doesn't matter what people tell you or what's been written down; you don't have to believe something just because it's got the weight of history and tradition behind it, he says.

He goes on to assert that it's not enough that a teaching appeals to our intellect, our logic. While the ideas behind a teaching may be appealing, that doesn't mean they work in real life. What's also implied here is that, just because a teaching "feels right" doesn't mean it is right-a critical point, since we are often drawn to ideas that fit with our own preferences, whether accurate or not.

Finally, he warns against accepting an opinion just because your teacher holds it."

Excerpted from "One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps" by Kevin Griffin