Realizing that the beautiful woman could not cross the stream by herself, the older monk gathered her up in his arms and carried her across the stream. Once they had reached the other side, he gently returned her to the ground. She smiled her thanks and the two monks continued on their way.
The young monk quietly seethed as he replayed the incident again and again in his own mind.
How could he?? The young monk thought angrily to himself. Does our vow of chastity mean nothing to him? The more the young monk thought about what he had seen, the angrier he became, and the argument in his head grew louder. Why, had i done such a thing i would have been thrown out of our order. This is disgusting. I may not have been a monk as long as he has, but i know right from wrong.
He looked over at the older monk to see if he atleast was showing remorse for what he had done, but the man seemed as serene and peaceful as ever.
Finally, the young monk could stand it no longer.
“How could you do that?” he demanded. “How could you even look at that woman, let alone pick her up and carry her? Do you not remember your vow of chastity?”
The older monk looked surprised, then smiled with great kindness in his eyes and replied:
“I am no longer carrying her, brother. Are you?”
I am sharing this story today because after reading it i realised that we carry the burden of others thoughts, doings and acts more than ours. It doesn’t take a minute to judge someone or anticipate something which does not even exist. It is our own fears, our insecurities which fill our mind with so much doubt, pessimism and without getting our facts right we make it so big in our head that it starts bothering us.
Each individual is different, with a different mindset, a different attitude, a different background. Even if you have been living with a person for years, still you are two different people with distinct individualities. Your thoughts may vary and so might your choices.
Don’t burden yourself with what can happen, might happen, should happen or even might not happen. We make things so big in our mind that it fills our cup of patience and tolerance and then when it pours out we are enclosed within a cloud full of doubts and misjudgment.
Photo by Nicolas Hรคns on Unsplash
A short story so well explained ๐ ๐