Good hint. Better "kill" the Buddhas than to follow blind. And what can we know what was really told to the world with them?
Back to the question: What is meant by "I am"?
If I look around I see many costumes, masks, scenery, settings. And it looks like the masks can think, decide, do a lot. Usually driven by beliefs that it is important not to lose this or that (or to get that and this). That's the way the spectacle goes.
These masks are like marionettes. Can a marionette think? No. So who or what is thinking? Who or what is wearing the masks? Or if seen like a virtual spectacle, a dream, who or what is the dreamer? Are there many dreamers, many actors?
If I look behind the curtain what do I see? I cannot find anyone. Only true nature really exists, nothing else.
I am so I am. "I am" is true nature, the one and only, pure awareness.
Is that true?