While walking through the marketplace, Baoji overheard a customer tell a butcher:
“Cut me a pound of lean meat!”
The butcher laid down his knife, crossed his arms in salute, and replied:
“Sir, which piece is NOT lean?”
Upon hearing this, Baoji experienced sudden enlightenment.
Days later, witnessing a funeral procession, he heard a mourner chant:
“The red sun must sink west — who knows where the soul departs?”
Under the mourning tent, the bereaved wailed: “Alas! Alas!”
Baoji felt a surge of awakening in body and mind.
He reported this to Mazu Daoyi, who certified his enlightenment.
Philosophical Notes
The Butcher’s Sword of Wisdom
The butcher’s retort — “which piece is NOT lean?” — shattered dualistic thinking (lean/fat = pure/impure), revealing all phenomena equally embody Buddha-nature.
Funeral Chant as Koan
The mourner’s song on impermanence (sun sinking west) and the mourners’ grief became a mirror: Death’s inevitability awakens life’s sacred urgency.
Mazu’s verification
Mazu’s recognition affirmed: True enlightenment arises in ordinary moments — not in temples, but in markets and funeral processions.
Leave a Reply