Article by
KAYSOON KHOO
Two monks, one with seniority and the other a novice, were about to wade across a stream when a pretty young damsel called out to them. She, too, wished to cross the stream but she didn't want to get her shoes and skirt wet. Shyly, she asked if one of them would carry her across.
The senior monk instantly bent down and asked her to climb on his back. The novice monk was aghast. Monks of their order, being celibate, weren't supposed to deliberately make physical contact with a woman. How could the other, despite his seniority, disregard that injunction and lift that girl on his back in that unseemly manner?
When they reached the opposite bank, the senior monk put the girl down and she went off after thanking him. The two monks then continued on their way in silence for the next hour or so.
All the while the novice monk continued to seethe with indignation at what his senior had done. Finally, he was unable to keep his feelings bottled up any longer.
Turning to his companion, he demanded, "Brother, how could you bring yourself to do what you just did? It's against the rules of our order! You should NOT have let that girl ride on your back! Didn't you feel her body press up against yours?"
The senior monk looked at his junior in surprise. "But I let her down more than an hour ago," he said, "and I've not given it another thought! Are YOU still carrying her in your mind?"
Sometimes when we pass judgment on another and voice our disapproval, we have to take a good look at ourselves. We have to examine our innermost feelings and ask ourselves in all honesty one important question. Deep down inside, are we that faultless after all? Are our motivations, and our intentions, that pure?
Being perfectly honest with ourselves is not easy. We are always so full of excuses for our own shortcomings and so ready to condemn those we see in others. If we're like that novice monk, we have a load to unburden. And it's not someone on our back. It's an even greater load deep within us that retards our growth as humans.
