There is nothing profane in the world, nothing sacred in the world. The world is neutral. Now it depends on you what you want to make of it. Meditation makes it sacred; then every act becomes meditative.
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.”
Author: Rajneesh Osho
Contributed by Nilesh Parekh
4 Responses
This is not part of Mohanji’s teachings as he teaches about non-harm and violence. In places where people are starving, they do hunt. Shamans and bushmen, pray for the spirit asking them permission as they need the food, the animals come to them the next day, the animals willingly give their lives….in this case the perspective is from the butcher, who gives love, just like serial killers who love their victims so much, they keep treasures of them afterwards. What about the victims, the animal in this case. We shouldn’t encourage people in anyway especially meat – eaters look for excuses instead of facing the truth, about murdering innocent beings. This article gives an excuse, as long as the animal was given love it is okay….watch them scream and die, after love was given. if you want to promote animals dying in human conditions, join the SPCA or some group and campaign to get tougher laws but work on making people be conscience on what they are consuming. As long as their is a demand, factory conditions will always exist. Listen to what Mohanji says:-)
I meant non-violence in this line “This is not part of Mohanji’s teachings as he teaches about non-harm and violence.”
You guys need to have an edit button, was typing in a hurry – meant non-harm and non-violence.
What Osho perceives is from a heightened state of awareness. The saint talked about in the article may have had a compatriot feeling for animals. But the common masses craving for meat may take it as an excuse to justify their stance on meat-eating.
Killing with love or without love leads to the same end result. Just ‘bland killing.’
To really understand Osho’s viewpoint we need to have the same awareness as his. But is that the case enmasse?
Collective consciousness rooted in satisfaction of their taste buds may never look at it the way ‘Awakening Times’ intends to.
Conclusively, killing can never be humane. Even when the dagger passes through the joint or otherwise.