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EN ESPANOL CLICAR AQUI> Los dos monjes
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Tanzan and Ekido were once travelling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling. Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.
“Come on, girl,” said Tanzan at once.
Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.
Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself.
“We monks can’t be near females,” he told Tanzan, “especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?”
“I left the girl there,” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”
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Very nice , thank you.
ONE OF THE BEST ZEN STORIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hallo,
the pictur is very beatifull
Hi Paulo
i think it means that Ediko is still carrying the beauiful girl in his thoughts where as Tanzan left the thoughts with the girl itself. Correct me if am wrong. Paulo, i want to write satirical novels and make movies on them. Could you guide me? i belong to India
Hehehehe…
Nice One….
Worth A Reading…
Thnx Paulo….
thats a good one..
Awesome!But I understand both of them!
I smiled when I read your comment.
really superb!! this work made me to think alot..
Amazing!!!!!!!!!! It is your intentions that count not your actions!
hi paulo….
it was indeed a very nice thought.
and a very different approch….
Hi,
You can speak volumes of action without spelling a word.
In life action speak louder than words, this has been nicely depicted vin above peice of work.
i love u paulo. you made my day.. this is sooo heart touching..:DDDD
superb !!!
touchy ! true ! it applies to lot a things, especially to human psyche !
Hi Paulo,
this is the thing abt u what makes me mad !!!!!!!!! and thinking abt everything again n again
that was amazing!!! truly enlightening!!!!
Beautiful, just beautiful. c:
While the moral is different this story reminds me of a passage I read in a book:
“Every difficulty, disharmony and obstacle is either because we refuse to let go of what we no longer need, or refuse to accept what we require”
well this passage is wonderful…but hurts in the same time…i don’t know if u’ll understand…hope u will!:)
hi MR paulo
i love u …
Dangle a carrot in front of a little boy and tell him he can’t have it… what’s he gonna do? naturally, he’s gonna fight to get that carrot. Hand him that same carrot nonchalantly, he’ll look at it for a minute and toss it to the side.
Ekido was told not to touch such things that it’s dangerous, as most of us have experienced this from all over society, family, the church towards many issues which i believe is the root of a lot of our societies problems. The church enforces it with the Fear of the punishment by God… etc etc.
These forced repressions, followed blindly lead to unhealthy situations such as Ekido’s obsessive thoughts….
A wonderful story!
Much Love
xxoo
type A personality correction: ‘… our societal problems’
i thought of your book “the Devil and Miss Prymm” after reading this one. about temptation.. definitely the other monk (Ekido) have carried the girl on the way home..
I love this story but read it before in my book The book of Zen Freedom of the Mind. Starting the morning reading it again, was a very good start….
I love reading your 10 sec read! Thank you
Simply, nice. The original and the thoughful comments.Good old way of narrating principles of living life.
I Like it! It’s all about the thoughts in our minds. Thank You, Paulo
The “homeless monk” compiled beautiful zen stories…101 of them…
It made me “=)”.
Life is a gift . . . while our Christian life on earth is short, an eternally fulfilling life awaits those who with perseverance lives a useful and loving life – how we have loved as Christ has loved . . . this is how we shall be judged.
Walk in the spirit: and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. – Gal 5:16
I hope I am not wrong, but maybe I read something similar in the few pages you give us translated in English, by abbot Burckhard, in The Way of the RAven ans he said there” Do it differently”…that was the key. It was about helping some woman, but they had to hurry for a sermon, I guess…hope I did not mispelled name.
Great piece of writing :)
Buddha’s Warning to his Bhikhu’s Against Even looking at Women’s face, Women Portrayed as source of temptation and resultant degeneration; this is for men who are not yet men, who need to find someone else to blame for their ‘failures’
Are women to blame, certainly not ! Fire cannot be blamed for burning you down, if u cannot ‘use’ it properly. Water cannot be blamed for killing you, if u go on drinking till your insides burst !
Secondly, I find buddha’s warning strange. He was one who was infatuated with women, afterall what kind of man, if not one totally besotted with women will have an orgy with several of them, for several nights. Booze and women. On one of such nights, Buddha woke up from his intoxicated sleep a little earlier than usual, and he was filled with disgust at the sight before him, tumbled tumblers, half naked women lying all over, snorting, their hair dishevelled and make up all made down. In that moment of disgust he called it quits, and because he was an honest, sincere and intense man, he went on and on and finally what we have is all the budhism, dalai lama, zen,….
Buddha had transcended women and sex, he could relate to a person without first relating it to sex, but he could do that only because he did not avoid women. His advise to his bhikhu’s to stay away from women has ensured that the poor bhikhu’s never transcend women and sex, perhaps that is why we have so many millions of followers, possibly billions if u count across the centuries, and so few, so few enlightened beings. Looks like Buddha made a mistake.
First bhikhu Tanzan, who carried the women across, he was probably ‘been there, done that’ so far as sex and women is concerned, second bhikhu Ekido, who asked the question, he needs to explore sex and women more, that is his path. Closing his mind, putting his head in sand like ostrich ( following buddha’s advise on the matter ) will not help him transcend.
at the bottom of this page, sundas expressed adesire to hear more from tanzan and Ekido, how about hearing more from teh man who is supposed to have made the rule ?
love
Wow….Aksh…….I so agree with you….:)
Very nice.
I liked the title most with story,the tile is so awesome, hopeful natural and realistic.
“I am muddy girl”
In the bhuddhist philosophy, Attachment is equated suffering. Tanzan was able to renounce attachment while Ekido is not released from attachemnt to the lovely girl.
Yes, you hit the nail on the head.
Thanks for this fable..
I did ponder things a lot. Very short and simple, but has a very broad meaning. Each of us has its own way of understanding this fable, most of us judge Ekido directly but Ekido’s reason were not mentioned in this story. Im not saying what Tanzan did was wrong, but we should just consider everything before we judge. We may not know Ekido has a very convincing reason for his actions.. :D
Good Day!
Nice story but let us have the humility to admit that we are the Ekidos and not the Tanzans
brilliant !! awesome!! i am so thankful to you for being my light …
I just started my day with this reading. It is amazing how some of us can let go of things and some can’t. I am just wondering what things should we let go and what should we keep?
i do have such dillema quite often, can’t let go the incident out of my mind immediately most of the time. when i am hunged over with such kind of feeling, restricts me to concentrate in the present. what would be the best way out, just wondering???
no lo llegue a comprender muy bien, tengo que reflecionar muy bien sobre este escrito,gracias por hacerme pensar.
Hahahahahahahaha..indeed!hahahah
a good story we need to apply it in lives & make sure that we do not carry unecessary loads .we must learn to unburden ourself & keep our minds light & free .
Thank you for this reminder. The story is about living in the present moment. The monk, Ekido asking about the girl in the evening was still at the muddy road in his mind, and not in the present moment. He had not been able to let go of the image of the girl, as had Tanzan.
The first word that came to my mind after reading it was Awesum… We at times refrain from doing some things but at the back of our mind we are just thinking abt it…
Yes story is very good. Its nicely depicts that all good or bad are carried within our heart and conscience. Better pure and clean in heart than in brain. Do what your heart says !!
tanzan and ekido are the two reflections of our mind. Tanzan thinks wisely and he is ready to bend the rules. Ekido, on d other hand, is an idiot, who don’t use his brain bcos he believes he shouldn’t. We believe in something to jst to do so. Tanzan derives his beliefs but beliefs derive ekido
we foget that we had left everythings behind us,,,an the important things we take we us in our heart
It is interesting to see the 2 different kinds of intention and thinking that Ediko and Tanzan
had. Tanzan wants to help and for him, it is much important than rules. But Ediko just wants to follow the rules that monk needs to and nothing else. From this story, we learned that there are many things we need to do first than to follow the rules.
intentions matter, when ur intentions are right u dont need to worry about ur actions,,,Tanzan has a pure intention of just helping the lovely girl not minding rules that will hinder his intention of helping, unlike ekido, though he didnt help the girl he caused himself to sin because of his thought about being close to a girl…poor ekido, he carried a heavier load because of his impure intentions…
just read it in d morning. . .a wonderful thought to start my morning with. . .thanks paul
Sometimes we’re overly righteous that by doing so, we become too focused on the letter of the law rather than its spirit. Thank you Paulo, i love all your books. It’s like always attending a spiritual retreat after reading each of them.
I loved it! Thank you. It is the thought and what we carry in our heart that makes the difference. As usual you touched a nerve! Thank you!
Hi Paulo and readers,
This story demonstrates that there is a there is a thin veil that separates Almighty and his angels.Has anyone heard or experienced discrimination by Him on any basis? It is only we who create artificial boundaries between us and try to compartmentalize ourselves.In fact that is what creates rifts between people and nations.My thoughts got further boost when I read the story and get similar boosts when I look at His generosity!
His blessings sometimes seem to be weird but we have to learn to either decipher or wait till we bet so wise as to be able to appreciate.
Best wishes.
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