The Soto monk, Hara Tanzan, and his companion, Ekido,
were traveling after a heavy rainfall and came upon a young woman in a silk
kimono unable to cross the muddy intersection. Without hesitation, Tanzan told
the girl that he could help her. Then he picked her up in his arms and carried
her over the mud.
The rest of that day, Ekido did not say a thing. But when they stopped for the night at a local temple, he could restrain himself no longer. “We monks don’t go near females,” he told Tanzan, “especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?”
“I left the girl there,” Tanzan told him. “Why are you still carrying her?”
Zen Masters of Japan: 292-93
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