"If you meet the Buddha on the road..." is a specific Zen teaching.

Any time you see words like Dorje or Rinpoche it's safe to assume your dealing with Tibetan Buddhism which differs significantly from Zen. Zen is like Buddhism that went to China and picked up some Taoism while Tibetan Buddhism is like Buddhism that went to Tibet and picked up some Tantric practices.

This sort of guru worship is common in Tibetan traditions. It's less common elsewhere but if you look into scandals, even in the Zen community, there are abuses of power that rely on this absolute deference to a teacher.