(no subject)

[oakenguy]

I finally understand that "If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him" saying.

At least, I do if you replace 'Buddha' with 'Stephen King', and substitute 'grab his book about how to write and hit him with it repeatedly' for 'kill'.

The problem with his "don't make plans, just type" approach to novels is that, for me, this leaves me free to natter about global conspiracies, the history of Somerville, NERO politics, local performance art....I'm 1/3 of the way to my goal/deadline, and it struck me this weekend that I'm missing something, what could it be, it can't be characters, I've got 43 of them, think, think...oh yeah, could it possibly be A PLOT???

Comments

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, could it possibly be A PLOT???

I hear they're highly overrated anyway.

Re:

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Hee--you don't write for Fox Television, by any chance? ;)

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

No -- do they openings? ;-)

[enmascarado.livejournal.com]

Remove "on the road". It's simply "If you meet the Buddha, kill the buddha." The full saying also includes the same command for your parents and one or two other people. The point is first, as with all koan, to shock the hearer out of rational thought and second to say remove your meditation from your family, government and teaching.

Another commonly mistranslated bit of Buddhism is, "when two hands are clapped together there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?" Note that the hand isn't necessarily clapping, assuming or stating that it is shows a grasping mind.

Sorry, I spent four years studying this stuff.

-Dan