Down By The Riverside

There’s a Buddhist story about a couple of monks who are out walking and come to a river. There’s a young woman standing on the bank of the river. She needs to cross but the water is too deep for her and she can’t swim. The older monk picks her up and carries her across on his shoulders. They part ways on the other side and the three of them all go their separate ways. Hours later, the younger monk asks the other one how he can justify carrying the woman across the river when they aren’t supposed to touch women. The monk answers, “Are you still carrying her? I put her down back on that river bank.” A lot of people have probably heard this story in one form or another but I’m okay with being reminded of it occasionally. I am an “obsessor” some of the time. I have, in fact, honed obsession to a fine art if I’m awake in the middle of the night. Did I do the right thing? Did I say the right thing? Have I hurt someone’s feelings? Have I done enough? Have I done too much? The list can go on, depending on how sleep-deprived I am. I had a discussion the other day about whether a certain situation should be forgive-and-forget or forgive-but-don’t-forget. A friend sent me an article about making the cut-off time 6:30 at night for obsessing. After that you let it go until the next morning. I’ve heard a lot of suggestions like that but if I try, I bet I could find a way to think about how much there is to think about. I’m going to try and be like the old monk. Leave it at the riverbank.

Photo courtesy Tama66 at Pixabay.com