Skip to main content

Two monks and a Woman — Zen story

 A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling 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?”

This simple Zen story has a beautiful message about living in the present moment. How often do we carry around past hurts, holding onto resentments when the only person we are really hurting is ourselves.

We all go through times in life when other people say things or behave in a way that is hurtful towards us. We can chose to ruminate over past actions or events, but it will ultimately weigh us down and sap our energy.

Instead we can choose to let go of what doesn’t serve us anymore and concentrate on the present moment. Until we can find a level of peace and happiness in the present circumstances of our lives, we will never be content, because ‘now’ is all we will ever have.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maximizing Your Profits with Scoring

SETTING YOUR MAXIMUM INTRADAY TRADING LOSS First things first: set a max intraday trading loss. There will be days when you just do not have it. Why do you think coaches pull their players when they are not playing well? They are more harmful on the field than off. When you are underperforming, you are hurting your team and your trading business. You need a system to yank yourself over to the bench. A stop loss is your answer. TRADING BASED UPON THE TIME OF DAY A good trader makes note of what time of day it is, when he trades most profitably, and adjusts his trading to fit such times. Your numbers at the end of the month will not reflect your true trading potential. Make the most trades with the most size during the trading periods that statistically are most profitable for you. Money saved during your weaker trading periods is money earned. Consistency The fact is that most trades you make will start working for you right away. But the new traders also hold stocks that are trading ag...
Post a Comment
Read more

INSPIRE COOPERATIVE AND PERSONAL ACTION

There are essentially two kinds of people of action. One might be called the caretaker type and the other the promoter or salesperson type. Both types are essential in business, industry, and finance. One of them is known as a dynamo while the other is often referred to as a balance wheel. Once in a great while you find someone who is both a dynamo and a balance wheel, but such a personality combination is rare. Most successful business organizations are made up of both types. The balance-wheel type who does nothing but compile facts and figures and statistics is just as much a person of action as the one who gets on a stage and sells an idea to a thousand people by the sheer power of their active personality. To determine whether or not someone is a person of action, it is necessary to analyze both their mental and their physical habits. The world pays you for what you do and not for what you know. That statement might easily be misconstrued. What the world really pays you for ...
Post a Comment
Read more

TIME

Time is the law of hypnotic  rhythm. The lapse of time required to give permanency to thought habits depends upon the object and the nature of thoughts. Time divides all thought habits into two classes, negative thoughts and positive thoughts. One's individual thoughts are of course constantly changing and being recombined to suit the individual's desires, but thoughts do not change from negative to positive or vice versa except throught voluntary effort on the part of the individual. Time penalizes the individual for all negative thoughts and rewards him for all positive thoughts, according to the nature and purpose of the thoughts. If one's dominating thoughts are negative, time penalizes the individual by building in his mind the habit of negative thinking and then proceeds to solidify this habit into "permanency," of course, refers to the natural life of the individual. In the strict sense of the term, nothing is permanent. Time converts thought habits into wh...
Post a Comment
Read more