Buddhist teachers will instruct their students, “If you encounter the Buddha on the road, kill him.”

Killing the Buddha is the idea that if I think I have things figured out, I must immediately reject that idea. I do not have things figured out. I do not know as much as I think I do. I still have room to grow.

If one encounters the Buddha and does not kill him, stagnation tends to be the result. Dogma and strict adherence, if not worship, of my “total” knowledge holds me back. I cannot grow. I cannot fill Life with my being.

There is always more. The apprentice might not understand this. The master does.