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sitproperly on Nov 17th 2008 at 9:30 am Gaudia Vaisnava

The story of the two monks

My friend Ryan related this story to me the other day. I find that it sadly rings true to so much of what I’m seeing in the renounced orders as of late.

Once, a young monk was walking with an elder monk on their way back to their temple after several days of travel. On the way, they came to a creek bed, the banks of which had softened to a wet, muddy mess. At the edge of the creek stood an attractive young woman dressed in traditional gowns, who was obviously wanting to cross, but had no idea how to contend with the mud. If she attempted to traverse it, her legs would surely sink shin-deep into the muck.

As they approached the young lady, the younger monk averted his eyes and looked down, for theirs was a stern discipline, and monks were not allowed to even gaze upon a woman, let alone speak to or interact with one, particularly one as fetching and young as her. To his horror, however, the older monk walked straight toward the woman and asked her if she needed to cross. The woman shyly said “yes,” and without another word, he hoisted her onto his back and carried the woman across the creek.

The younger monk followed them across the creek, stunned. Once upon the other side, the woman profusely thanked her new friend, shook his hand, and resumed her journey, disappearing into the trees.

The young monk was aghast, but respectful of his elder, he held his tongue. For three hours they walked side by side, all the while the student confused as to how his companion could so flagrantly violate one of the cardinal rules of their temple. The older monk had, after all, not only engaged the woman, he had spoken to her, and then not only did he touch her, he carried her on his back! How could such a thing be justified?!

For another hour they walked in total silence, and finally came the point when the young man could stand it no longer. He stepped forward two paces and then turned to face his companion in anger. “How could you do that?!” he shouted.

“Do what?” asked the older monk, looking at him.

“It is a sin to touch a woman!” shouted the younger monk, “a violation to even gaze upon her, and yet you spoke with her.” He sputtered in his anger. “You carried her across the creek! YOU CARRIED HER!!”

The elder monk smiled the faintest of smiles and spoke to his young friend, “I left that woman at the river bank… why are you still carrying her?”



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8 Comments

Comment by scottNo Gravatar
2008-11-17 16:27:50

Wow, that is good. I’ll have to use that in one of my classes.

Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2008-11-17 17:03:10

It’s originally a Buddhist story, but it’s very transferable. A lot of things are. Not really philosophical things, of course, but many material things could be and probably should be.

 
 
Comment by Ryan BeggarNo Gravatar
2008-11-17 20:29:59

nice translation/retelling too! the zen ones are always poorly translated into english. i like that one!

Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2008-11-17 21:06:40

I can only take partial credit for that. I wrote it out and then found a translation of it on the net and merged the two with heavy edits and casualties to both.

 
 
Comment by RatiNo Gravatar
2008-11-18 09:45:39

I also really like how the older monk saw an opportunity to be helpful, and realized that the point of the rule wasn’t to be a bastard to women, or anyone else for that matter.
Very cool.

Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2008-11-18 09:51:31

Thankfully, most devotees are more like the older monk. As much as there is to bitch about, the icky materialist/sexist devotees are a minority.

Sadly, that’s mostly because the majority are now Hindu….

 
 
Comment by madamebeekeeperNo Gravatar
2009-01-04 20:04:34

haribol. another cool take on that story would be if the elder monk had replied, “That was a woman? I hadn’t noticed. I just saw another being in distress.”

Comment by ScottNo Gravatar
2009-01-04 20:56:41

Dang. I knew that there was a really good ending other than the one presented. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. But that is it! Very good observation

 
 

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