Newsletter – April 2025 – A Zen story
For this issue I’ve posted below a famous Zen story and have added some contemplations of it below.
Two monks and a woman – A Zen story
A senior monk and a junior monk were travelling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a very young and beautiful woman also attempting to cross. The young woman asked if they could help her cross to the other side.
The two monks glanced at one another because they had taken vows not to touch a woman.
Then, without a word, the older monk picked up the woman, carried her across the river, placed her gently on the other side, and carried on his journey.
The younger monk couldn’t believe what had just happened. After rejoining his companion, he was speechless, and an hour passed without a word between them.
Two more hours passed, then three, finally the younger monk could contain himself any longer, and blurted out “As monks, we are not permitted a woman, how could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?”
The older monk looked at him and replied, “Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river, why are you still carrying her?”
For such a short story, there is a lot you can actually take away from it. The story nudges us to ask why we keep hold of our dogmatic thought patterns that no longer serve us? Be it guilt, shame for an action or event of our past. Can we let go of these to move into a more contented life, or do we feel we need to keep punishing ourselves as that is right and just?
The story also asks us, can we step out of our ideas and beliefs of right and wrong and do what is appropriate and compassionate in that moment? Again, what holds us back? Who invented right and wrong?
These are all some big questions but worth contemplation, and I will look at some of these in future newsletters.