Put Down and Let Go

Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were travelling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge damaged. They had to wade across the river.There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on his back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk.

"How can big disciple brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?" thought the little monk. But he kept quiet. Big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations at the big monk in his head. But he still kept quiet. Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further. He burst out angrily at the big monk. "How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite."

The big monk looked surprised and said,"I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?"

Like the little monk, we too carry all our emotional baggage without putting it down – all the unpleasant events, all the hurt and resentment, all the bitterness people spew on us and thereby, we become more bitter, carry agony and hatred and anger within – all because we don’t want to put down the weight of the ‘pretty lady’ which so easily the big monk could put down. 

We must learn and practice to put the weight down immediately before it becomes a burden on our heart and mind – that is the best solution for our daily agonies which cause us to hurt always and make us become a source of spiteful vengeance.