The teachings are for monks, but the gist of the teachings are about morality and how living a moral life will make it easier to lift the veils of ignorance from one's eyes and see reality as it is...

Hello @abcallen, in Zen Buddhism there is a saying, "Kill The Buddha," Here is a small part of the teaching from Zen Master Linji Yixuan. I think this quote speaks to what you are alluding too. However, a word of warning regarding this view, all students had teachers and had practiced a long time! Don't depend on words, teachers, other people's views...you must experience this yourself...

Killing in this context means letting go of the labels and habits we carry. Just like the label on a can of beans are not the beans, just as the can that holds the beans is not the beans...

s3. ―Followers of the Way, he who is a renouncer of home ought to practice the Way. Take this mountain monk, for example. In the past, I studied the Vinaya intensively, and I also investigated the sutras and shastras. Later I realized that these were mere prescriptions for medicine, and superficial descriptions. Eventually, I relinquished them all, searched for the Way and started to practice Zen. Later I met outstanding teachers. At last my Dharma eye became clear, thus I could discern all kinds of teachers under heaven, and tell the true from the fake. This discerning eye was not with me when I was born from my mother. But rather, after extreme discipline and ceaseless investigations, one day, all of a sudden, I could clearly see who I am.
“Followers of the Way, if you want to attain real understanding of Dharma as such, simply do not be deceived by others. Whether you are facing internally or externally, whatever you meet, kill it.
―If you meet a buddha, kill the buddha. If you meet a patriarch, kill the patriarch. If you meet an arhat, kill the arhat. If you meet your parents, kill your parents. If you meet your relatives, kill your relatives. Then you will attain emancipation. By not being bound by anything, you will pass through freely.
―Of those followers of the Way who come to see me from all over, there has never been a single one who appeared in front of me depending on nothing.