This article looks at the early uses of two metaphors for enlightenment, a bird still in the egg and a newborn lion, as well as later controversies surrounding the use and meaning of these metaphors. The metaphors were employed by Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese Buddhists, most famously in accounts of the debate between Indian and Chinese Buddhists at the Samyé (bsam yas) monastery in Tibet. Controversy often stemmed from debate as to whether or not the imagery conveyed a notion of "simultaneous" or "all-at-once" (cig car ba) enlightenment. (Ben Deitle 2006-02-23)