To understand the weight of this text, one must understand its author. Thich Nhat Hanh, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr., was a pioneer of "Engaged Buddhism." Exiled from Vietnam during the war, he found himself in the West, where he encountered Christianity not as a rival, but as a neighbor.
Hanh offers a sharp critique of religious fundamentalism. He warns that when we cling to the form—the statue of Buddha or the image of the Cross—we lose the living reality. He writes, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." This Zen koan is reinterpreted to mean: Do not let the idea of the divine become a barrier to experiencing the divine.