Mark and Danny in the Greek Hotel
Bold as badgers on a one-take Mission
Got their equipment from a dwarf outside
On the trail of any suspect wisdom
Pond-Life beneath a Southern sky
(They make their move then they head off to the border)
They don't care as long as you can pay -
Whatever - whatever they say

We're on the road and we're gunning for the Buddha
We know his name and he mustn't get away
We're on the road and we're gunning for the Buddha
It would take one shot - to blow him away...

Now's the time to have some big ideas
Now's the time to make some firm decisions
We saw the Buddha in a bar down south
Talking politics and nuclear fission
We see him and he's all washed up -
Moving on into the body of a beetle
Getting ready for a long long crawl
He ain't nothing - he ain't nothing at all...

We're on the road and we're gunning for the Buddha
We know his name and he mustn't get away
We're on the road and we're gunning for the Buddha
It would take one shot - to blow him away...

Death and Money make their point once more
In the shape of Philosophical assassins
Mark and Danny take the bus uptown
Deadly angels for reality and passion
Have the courage of the here and now
Don't take nothing from these ½-baked buddhas
When you think you got it paid in full
You got nothing - you got nothing at all...

We're on the road and we're gunning for the Buddha
We know his name and he mustn't get away
We're on the road and we're gunning for the Buddha
It would take one shot...

Oh... we're gunning for the Buddha
We know his name and he mustn't get away
We're on the road and we're gunning for the Buddha
Saying something, saying something unsafe
We're on the road
Oh... we're gunning for the Buddha
(Yeah, Yeah)
We're on the road
You know we're gunning for the Buddha
You see him blow right there
We're on the road
We're gunning, we're gunning,
We're gunning on the road
We're gunning, we're gunning
We're gunning for the Buddha
Gunning for the Buddha
Gunning for the Buddha
Gunning for the Buddha


Lyrics submitted by Major Valor

Gunning for the Buddha Lyrics as written by David Geoffrey Allen Barry Andrews

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Gunning For The Buddha song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

4 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +6
    General Comment

    "if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." -- Zen Master Linji, (the founder of the Rinzai sect)

    the quote above is usually interpreted to mean that if you think you've met someone who fits your notion of who the Buddha is, it's actually not Buddha, and the best thing to do is to "kill" your notion of Buddha by ridding it from your mind.

    The song "Gunnin' for the Buddha" is about a couple of friends who enjoy discussing ancient Eastern philosophy while traveling through Greece (or through Europe, including Greece) together. these characters Mark and Danny are "gunning for the Buddha" in that they are pondering the teachings of the Zen Master Linji, questioning their personal conceptions of the Buddha, and/or possibly playing a game at trying to spot (read: hunting for) fake (or "half-baked") Buddhas. While agreeing to do so, they joke about "gunning" (substituted in place of "killing") for the Buddha during their travels.

    They encounter one such would-be Buddha in a bar "down south" from their Greek hotel. he is disussing politics and nuclear fission in a pompous, self-important, probably inebriated ("all washed up") enough to result in a wicked hangover ("Moving on into the body of a beetle/ Getting ready for a long long crawl") possibly they consider getting into a philosophical discussion with the drunken blowhard in their attempt to expose him as a phony, thus "killing" the fake Buddha.

    they take a bus uptown where they find more fake Buddhas, which they expose as fake by way of arguments relating to "Death and Money" (in discussing politics & economics) they describe themselves as "philosophical assassins" and as "deadly angels for reality and passion" in warning us not to be persuaded by "half-baked Buddhas" lest we be left with "nothing".

    mliem411on October 06, 2009   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Album art
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.