Are You Still Carrying Her?
An old monk was once traveling together with his discipline. The journey wasn’t too smooth because the road was muddy. It had rained heavily earlier of the day.
Coming around a bend, the old monk and his young student met a lovely young girl in a pretty dress standing by a stream. She explained that she wanted to cross the stream but didn’t know how. The heavy rain flooded the stream to almost waist deep with gushing water and there was no bridge in sight. Her mother was ill so she needed to get home quick to take care of her.
Seeing the girl close to tears, the old monk offered, “Come on, young lady. Let me carry you over the stream.” The young girl was too delighted she could hardly say thank you. Lifting the girl in his arms, the old monk carefully trod the water and got her safely across the stream. They bade each other goodbye and went their separate ways.
The young monk seemed to be stunned by what his master did. He didn’t speak a word for the rest of the journey until that night when they reached a lodging temple. The young monk simply couldn’t restrain himself any longer.
“You’ve always taught me that we monks shouldn’t be near females,” he said. “It’s a taboo and dangerous to our practice. And… and… today you were carrying the girl?”
“I left the girl by the bank of the stream where we parted,” the old monk said calmly. “Are you still carrying her?”