Solid Ground
Photo courtesy of hashmil, Flickr
The new disciple approached the master and said, “I cannot take this any more. You are slowly stripping away all my traditions, all the beliefs I had ingrained in me since childhood. Why are you doing this? I need some solid ground.”
The master replied, “What is the solid ground of the fish swimming in the vastness of the ocean? Or of the migratory bird as it glides across continents?”
Unmoved
Others are revolted, I am unmoved.
Gripped by desires, I am unmoved.
Hearing the wisdom of sages, I am unmoved.
I move only in my own way.
– Lu Yu
Why Do You Still Carry Her?
original photo courtesy of permanently scatterbrained, flickr
Two monks had taken a strict vow of celibacy which forbade them to touch a woman, even in the slightest of gestures.
One day, while taking a contemplative walk through the woods, they came upon a river. As they were about to cross, a woman lying on the riverbank called out to them. “Please sirs, I have twisted my ankle and need to get across the river to my home in the village. Would you be kind enough to carry me across?”
The first monk began to respond about how this was impossible given their vow but to his surprise, the second monk had already bent down, carried the woman on her back, and started wading through the strong currents.
They made it across the river and to the woman’s village where the second monk left her with the village doctor. The two monks then resumed their trek through the woods.
After two hours, the first monk said, “Brother, I have to talk to you. I cannot stand it anymore. I am so disturbed by what you did back there. Why did you carry the woman? Have you forgotten our sacred vow? Does it have no meaning for you? Our superior has told us that we must not even graze a single strand of a woman’s hair, and yet here you are brazenly carrying one across your back!”
The second monk replied, “Brother, I left the woman in her village two hours ago. Why do you still carry her?”
