Two monks, Tanzan and Ekido, were walking together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was falling and had swollen the stream running near the path.

Rounding a bend, they saw a beautiful girl dressed in formal kimono, crying at an intersection.

Tanzan asked, “What is wrong?” The girl explained that she was on her way to a wedding and could not cross the muddy stream without ruining her kimono.

“Come” said Tanzan, reaching out his arms. Lifting her, he carried her across the muddy stream and set her down on the other side. Then, Tanzan and Ekido continued on their way.

Ekido did not speak until they reached their destination, the temple. Then, angrily, he said to Tanzan, “You know that monks do not touch females, especially young and beautiful ones. You should not have done that!”

“I left the girl back on the path,” replied Tanzan. “Why are you still carrying her?”

What “shoulds” and “should nots” are you still carrying and allowing to feed your anger?

Conflict Zen® by Tammy Lenski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at ConfictZen.Lenski.com.