A Confucius Lesson: Two Monks Crossing A River

There is an interesting tale in Buddhism.

Two monks came down from their mountain temple to beg alms. When they reached the bank of a river, they saw a girl, who was upset because she was unable to cross it. The old monk said to the girl: “I’ll carry you over on my back.” And he gave the girl a piggy-back across the river.

The young monk was too shocked to do anything more than gape in astonishment. He didn’t dare to ask any questions. They walked on for another twenty leagues, and at last he could bear it no longer, so he asked the old monk: “Master, we’re monks, we’re supposed to be celibate, how could you carry a girl across the river on your back?”

The old monk said coolly: “You saw how I got her across the river and then put her down. How come you have carried this thought with you for twenty leagues and yet you still haven’t put it down?”

The moral of this story is exactly what Confucius teaches us: when it’s time to put things down, put them down. When we are insulted, criticized, wronged or hurt, it’s natural to get angry or upset. But as time passes, do you still hold grudges against the person who offended you? Are you still carrying the memory of that person or situation in the back of your mind? The situation took place in the past and no longer exist. What’s causing the pain is the memory of the situation. These memories can be left back there as well. By being tolerant of others, you are in fact leaving yourself a lot more room.

A Starfish Story

The Starfish Story

While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young boy, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.

He came closer still and called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing a starfish into the ocean.”

The old man smiled, and said, “I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, “But, young boy, do you not realise that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young boy listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”