This is a very interesting & spiritual Zen story. There were two wings in a Zen Monastery, a left wing and a right wing – the monastery was just made in that way. Five hundred monks lived in one wing, five hundred in the other wing, and the Master’s house was just in the middle of both.
The Master had a cat, a very beautiful cat, and all the disciples were very loving towards the cat. But once in a while there was a quarrel because the left wingers wanted the cat – they were having some party, some fun – but the right wingers were not willing to allow them the cat at that time. The cat became a constant object of quarrels, fights….
One day the Master called all the disciples and asked them to bring the cat. He told them, ”You both love the cat, but the cat is only one.” So he cut the cat in two – it was a shock to all the disciples – and told them, ”Now you can have half, and you can have half. Now no more quarreling in this monastery.
There was silence. They could not understand that such a non-violent person could cut the cat in two. They all wondered and worried and thought about it. The story reached the king, who was also a disciple of the Master. He could not contain his curiosity; he came the next day. He asked, ”I have heard that you have killed your most loved cat.”
The Master said, ”I have not killed the cat, I have killed a conflict, a quarrel which was growing every day and was growing out of proportion. And these fools won’t understand unless I take a drastic step. I have not killed the cat, because nobody dies. The cat is freed from this body because of these fools. And anyway she was going to die; she had already lived long enough – perhaps she would have lived one year or two more years at the most.
”So before killing her I became totally silent, aware, and asked myself, ’What is this poor cat going to do in those two years? Nothing. But in two years these fools will do much.’
”I have not killed the cat out of anger, I have not killed the cat out of hate. I loved her and I love her more now because she helped to solve a problem. And it was a good shock to these idiots, because without shocks their minds don’t function. Once in a while you have to hit them.”
And certainly it happened from that day all kinds of quarreling simply disappeared, because those disciples became aware that this man is dangerous, he can kill somebody; the quarrel can be too hazardous. All arguments ceased.
And the king was absolutely satisfied. He said, ”This has always been your teaching, that it is not the act but the consciousness. We can only see the act; we don’t know in what consciousness you did it. That is only known to you. Who are we to decide about it?” Never judge anybody by the act.
