Two monks were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was falling. Coming around the bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection. “Come on girl,” said the first monk. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.
The second monk did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he could no longer constrain himself and said angrily: “We monks don’t go near females. It is dangerous! How could you do that?”
“But brother,” the first monk said. “I put the girl down and left her there hours ago. Why are you still carrying her?”
– Zen story
