The Monk and the Butcher

By Fang Qin

In Japan there is a story about a Buddhist monk and a konjac salesman who make jokes out of themselves through mutual ambiguities and misunderstandings.In China there is another version of this story entitled,“The Shandong Competition.”

In the reign of the Chenghua Emperor during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644),there was a monk,Liaoyi,from the Ryūkyū Kingdom who knew thirty-six charade hand signs and had memorized seventy portions of the Diamond Sutra.He arrived in the great Ming Dynasty to see if anyone could outwit him.

There was a pork butcher named Sun Delong in Zhushi (Pork Market) Street,Dongsi District of the capital city.He was a native of Dengzhou Prefecture in Shandong Province.He was forced into the competition one day because he drunkenly tore down an imperial notice.

Unwittingly,Liaoyi,started off with a tricky move and Sun the butcher unexpectedly broke the code at random.The monk was astounded,thinking that this was a master standing before him.

And so,the two battled out a game of charades.The monk extended a finger,the butcher outstretched two fingers;the monk held out three fingers and the butcher put out five fingers;the monk patted his chest and the butcher tapped his head.

The monk conceded defeat.

The emperor asked the monk what went wrong.The monk replied,“I put out,‘one prostrating Buddah’ and he retaliated with,‘the protection of two holies.’ I then reached out with,‘three emperors to rule the world’ and he hit back with,‘five kings as rulers.’ I patted my chest indicating that,‘Buddha is in my heart,’ and he tapped his head saying,‘God is above me.’”

Sun the butcher was then asked for his interpretation of events.He said,“He was trying to barter with me.He knows I’m selling pork at the meat market.He was hosting a banquet at the temple and wanted to buy a pig from me.I told him not to talk about buying one pig,I can even sell two if he wanted.He said he wanted a pig that was thirty-something catties in weight,I told him that all my pigs weigh at least fifty-something catties.He said that the pigs must come with their hearts,livers and lungs.I told him that not only would I give him the hearts,livers and lungs but that the heads would be his as well.”