A Zen Butcher – Buddhist Spiritual Story by Osho
I am reminded of a butcher in Japan who was considered to be a great master — and he was a butcher!
The whole day he was cutting animals and selling meat; that was his business. One Buddhist scholar could not believe that this man was thought to be a saint. He was simply a scholar. He went to the butcher and said, “This is something absolutely mad. Who are the people who think that you are a saint? How can a butcher be a saint?”
The butcher laughed. He answered, “Just by mixing meditation in the butchery. When I am cutting up an animal I am not angry, I am not hateful. I am full of love, I am full of compassion. I have great hope that next time he will be born in a human form; perhaps he will become a buddha. With all my blessings I am sending him on a new journey, releasing him from this prison.
“And moreover, my father was a butcher, my forefathers were butchers, and I am a poor butcher. I have never told anybody that I am a saint. If people think so, that’s their business. You should go and argue with them.
“As far as I am concerned, I am absolutely content with my profession because whatever you do, the question is not what you are doing but how you are doing it. The question is not the act; the question is the consciousness with which the act is being performed. Yes, I am killing animals, but I know that they will be killed anyway. If I am not killing them, somebody else will kill them. And he will not kill them with such love, with such compassion. How can I leave this profession?
“These animals are going to be killed. If I don’t kill them somebody else will kill them and he is not going to kill them with such meditation, with such love. So I would be leaving these poor animals in the hands of some butcher. I cannot do that. If I am going to be thrown into hell for being a butcher, that is acceptable. But I cannot leave these poor innocent animals in the hands of somebody who knows nothing of love.”
Can you see the point of this butcher? It is very subtle. He is ready to suffer in hell if that is going to be the consequence of his actions. But he cannot leave these poor animals in the hands of somebody who will simply kill them and not even bother about what he is doing.
He said, “I am so concerned with these animals and I love them so much — I cannot leave them in somebody else’s hands. Whatsoever happens to me, that I am ready to face.”
I can see why the people who could understand called him a master, a saint. He never gave a sermon, he never preached anything. He was illiterate, he knew nothing of the scriptures, but he lived religion in a very irreligious situation; that’s something tremendously important. He lived religion in something which is very irreligious. And yet he managed to live religiously. He must have been a great alchemist who transformed the whole act, gave it a new quality; something utterly profane and ugly became so beautiful, so graceful.
It is said that his fame spread far and wide and people started coming to see him while he was cutting up animals. Even the emperor of Japan came to see him while he was cutting because he had heard that the way he cuts, nobody has ever cut — such grace, such love, tears flowing from his eyes. And the miracle was that although human beings were not able to understand, perhaps the animals were able to understand.
Ordinarily when you want to kill an animal he tries to escape, but from this butcher no animal tried to escape. He hugged the animal. The animal was not bound by anything, tied with anything. He was completely free. It was as if deep down he wanted to die by this man’s hand.
And the emperor asked one thing, about the knife that he used to kill the animals. The knife looked so shiny, as if it had just been sharpened. The emperor asked, “Do you sharpen your knife every day?”
He said, “No, this is the knife my father used, and his father used, and it has never been sharpened. But we know exactly the points where it has to cut the animal so there is a minimum of pain possible — through the joints where two bones meet. The knife has to go through the joint, and those two bones that meet there go on sharpening the knife. And that is the point where the animal is going to feel the minimum pain.
“For three generations we have not sharpened the knife. A butcher sharpening a knife simply means he does not know his art” — he used the word “art” — “He does not know the art and he does not know how to do it lovingly.”
Osho – “From False to the Truth”
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What Is the Spiritual Moral / Message of the “Zen Butcher” Story?
This butcher, revered as a saint by some, lived amidst an occupation deemed far from the realms of spirituality. Yet, his mastery wasn't in the profession he held but in the consciousness he brought to his actions. His spiritual significance lay not in a sermon preached or scriptures memorized but in the depth of love and compassion he infused into his everyday butchery.
The essence of his spirituality lay not in abandoning his trade but in transforming it through the purity of intent and the depth of consciousness. He didn't merely wield a knife; he embraced each animal with love and tenderness, seeing beyond the immediate act of cutting to the journey that awaited the souls released from their physical forms.
For this butcher, his work was a meditation, an offering of hope and release for the souls of the animals. His hands, though engaged in an act society often deems cruel, were guided by an unparalleled grace and compassion. Every cut was an expression of love, every animal's journey a sacred transition.
His wisdom resided in understanding the interconnectedness of life. He recognized that whether he performed the task or someone else did, the animals would meet the same fate. Yet, in his hands, there was a reverence, a tenderness that softened the transition, lessening the pain as much as possible. His knife, handed down through generations, held not just the legacy of a profession but the wisdom of minimum pain, guided by generations of compassionate butchery.
What made this butcher extraordinary wasn't the absence of suffering but his willingness to embrace the potential consequences of his actions. He was ready to face any consequence, even hell, if it meant not leaving these innocent beings in the hands of someone devoid of love and understanding.
In the eyes of many, he wasn't merely butchering animals; he was weaving a narrative of compassion in a seemingly irreligious setting. His actions spoke volumes about the transformative power of consciousness. He sanctified the profane, infusing it with grace and beauty. His presence drew even the emperor, who witnessed not just the act of cutting but a symphony of love and compassion expressed through every movement.
The animals, it is said, didn't resist; they surrendered willingly to his touch, sensing perhaps the depth of love in his intention. His knife, passed down through generations, held an edge honed not by a sharpener but by the tender joints where minimum pain could be ensured, a testament to his ancestral wisdom and love-driven craftsmanship.
This story doesn't beckon us to embrace butchery; instead, it invites us to introspect on our own actions and intentions. It challenges us to infuse every aspect of our lives, no matter how mundane or perceived as ‘unspiritual,' with love, mindfulness, and compassion.
It reminds us that spirituality isn't confined to temples or rituals but resides in the intention and consciousness with which we navigate our existence. It's about transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary through the sheer power of love and compassion.
The spiritual significance of this story resonates in its timeless message: every action, when performed with love and consciousness, becomes a gateway to the divine. The butcher's legacy isn't about his trade but about the spiritual artistry with which he lived, leaving behind a trail of compassion and grace that transcended boundaries and touched souls, human and animal alike.