The founder of Chan Buddhism, the 9th Century Chinese Master Linji Yuxuan once taught:
“If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha,
If you meet the patriarchs, kill the patriarchs,
If you meet an Arhat [one who has reached Enlightenment], kill the Arhat,
If you meet your parents, kill your parents.”
Consider that all problems which beset a person are unique to that person. No one else will face the same unique mix of confusion and complication at the same time, with the same strengths, the same biases, the same resources or the same wounds.
As a result, all instruction and practice on the art of contemplating one’s life, is ultimately guidance not doctrine. The only rulebook to be followed is one’s own.
That is the core of the Linji’s audacious claim to kill the Buddha. The Buddha’s teachings do not provide the secret to Enlightenment, they are merely an example of it. Revering idols and ceremonies are distractions. Following dogma and prescriptions are not long-term solutions – the path must be discovered on one’s own.