An anecdote told by Osho where a monk became enlightened when he overheard a butcher say, ‘I never sell anything that is not the best.’
I have heard:
A Zen monk, Rinzai, was passing from a marketplace. He was near the shop of a butcher, and a customer was asking the shopkeeper, “Give me the best meat you have.” The butcher said, “What nonsense! I never sell anything that is not the best. Here everything is the best.”
And it is said, hearing this, Rinzai became enlightened.
The moment he heard this – “Here, everything is the best” – it shattered something in his mind. A breakthrough, a piercing insight – everything is the best?… and he realized something.
That’s how it is, the whole existence: it is never less than the best. And he danced. And when he came back to the monastery, his master hugged him and said, “So! – so it has happened. Now tell me the whole story, how it happened.”
Rinzai said, “It is ridiculous. It happened by hearing a butcher say something to his customer.”
Osho, The Divine Melody – Discourses on Songs of Kabir, Ch 4, Q 2 (excerpt)
Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
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