Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had towade across the river. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn'tcross the river. The big monk offered to carry her across the river on his back to which thelady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk and was thinking"How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid allintimacy with females?" But he kept quiet.
The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followedunhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down andthey parted ways with her.All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy withthe act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations aboutbig monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still keptquiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation.
Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not standit any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. "How can you claimyourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch afemale, especially when she is very pretty?"All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite.The big monk looked surprised and said, "I had put down the pretty lady atthe river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?"
Moral: This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of manypeople today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, theyirritate us and they make us angry. But like the little monk, we are notwilling to let them go away. There is no point in remaining hurt by theunpleasant event after it is over. Learn to move on in life!
Courtesy: Mail Fwd by Harsha Joshi
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