Monday, April 12, 2010

What are you carrying?


Once two Zen monks were walking together through the woods. They came to a broad, shallow river and began hitching up their robes for a walk across to the other side. Suddenly, a short distance away, a beautiful young woman dressed in wedding finery stepped out of the forest and paused before the river. By observing the troubled expression on her face and the way she paced back and forth, the monks could tell that she needed to get across, but couldn't without ruining her clothes. The older monk said to the younger one, "I will offer to carry her across."

Shocked, the younger monk said, "But what about the rules? We have taken a vow of chastity! Why, we're not even supposed to touch a woman!"

The older monks said, "And what about compassion? Just look, there are tears on her face!"

Without hesitating, he went over to the woman, offered to assist, received her grateful smile, and helped her climb onto his back. Then, following behind the clearly disgruntled younger monk, he carried her across the river. When they reached the other side, he set her down. She thanked him, bid farewell, and went on her way farther north.

The two monks traveled on for half a day in silence, the younger monk scowling all the way. Finally the younger monk burst out to the older one, "You should not have carried that woman on your back. You know the rule!"

The Older monk smiled, "Young man, I set down that woman on the bank of the river hours ago. It seems that you're still carrying her."

No comments:

Post a Comment