Learn to Move On

Once upon a time two monks were traveling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. As they prepared themselves to wade across the river, they noticed a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river.

The senior monk offered to carry her across the river on his back to which she readily accepted. The junior monk was shocked by the move of the senior monk and was thinking "How can he offer to carry the lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?" But he kept quiet and did not say anything.

The senior monk took the lady across the river and the other monk followed him unhappily. When they reached the other side, the senior monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her and continued their journey. All along the way for several miles, the junior monk was very unhappy with the improper conduct of the senior monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about senior monk in his head.

Finally, when they reached their ashram many hours later, the junior monk could not stand it any further, he went to the guru and burst out angrily complaining  about the senior monk.  "How can he claim himself a devout monk, when he gives in easily to the charm of a beautiful woman and seize the first opportunity to touch her against all the teachings of the ashram? He should be punished for his misconduct."


The guru listened to the complain, and smiled calmly. He said, "Son, He had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?"

This beautiful story reflects our thinking these days. When we encounter an unpleasant event in life, it irritates us and makes us angry, and we make it worse for ourselves by not willing to let it go, just like the junior monk. There is no point in remaining hurt by an unhappy experience after it is over. We unnecessarily carry a grudge, regret, or guilt in our minds for too long, making ourselves unhappy.

If you want to be happy, find out what is it that you are carrying with you bothers you. learn to drop it and move on..