The Woman at The River

     One story that really challenged our imagination when we were in the seminary was the story of the two monks. After, we heard the story, many of us wanted to encounter such a situation and would choose what the first monk did. Everybody loved the first monk. Why? Here how the story goes:

"Once there were two monks who were on a mission. When they were near the broken bridge, they saw a really beautiful woman in silky dress. Although the two monks did not look at her, they could tell how inviting the woman's existence: she smelled so good. The hot summer breeze was filled with her natural scent.


Obviously, the woman was waiting for a lift to get across the river. But the two monks were determined not even to communicate with her. Their code was  clear about that. Avoid occasions of sin; avoid women. And so, the two monks headed to the water without a word. The tide was almost to the neck.  When they were already half way, the woman shouted. "Don't you have hearts? You did not even look at me. Am a devil? All I am asking is a lift. I need to attend to the wedding of the King. I need to get across the water without getting wet. Please..."

The second monk answered the woman back, "Lady, please, understand us. We are not allowed to even look at you..." But even while he was saying this, he noticed that the first monk made his way back towards the woman. Without a word he signaled the woman to climb on his shoulders. With the woman on his shoulders, his head between her thighs, he started walking across the river. Seeing the mirage-like scene, the second monk almost fell on the river bank. "Holy cow!"

Two days after that monk-river-woman incident, the second monk still kept on lecturing the first monk. He wanted to extract remorse and inflict punishment on him. On the third day, for the first time, the first monk said: "Brother, I dropped that woman three days ago on the other side of the river, but you are still carrying her..."

     Whoa! Felt familiar? Emotional baggage is heavy. Some of us don't want to let go of them for a lot of reasons. But the truth is, we never become truly happy if we have them. I met several people who have these baggage, some they carried them for 40 years. They complained everyday. Their favorite words and phrases are: "if only..," "if not because of you..," "had I...". These words are unhappy twits. Listen to yourself. What is your baggage? How persistent is the second monk in you?

Next: concrete ways to silence your second monk.

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