The mysterious monk….. (noise source)

A man lived next door to a monk. He constantly heard a strange noise coming from the house. Well, at first he tried to just ignore it. But after a little while he just couldn’t take it so he went and knocked on the monk’s door. The monk opened the door and said, “Yes, can I help you?”

The man asked, “I’d like to know what that noise coming from your house is.” The monk replied, “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you, you’re not a monk.” So the man asked, “How do I become a monk then?” The monk said, “Well, to start, you must go the next 5 years eating only potato chips.” So the man, determined to find out what that noise was, went home and spent the next 5 years eating only potato chips.

Finally, he returned to the monk and said, “OK, it’s been 5 years and I’ve only eaten potato chips. Now can I know what that noise is?” The monk replied, “No, you’re still not a monk. Now you must go 7 years and drink nothing but water.” Well, the man wasn’t looking forward to waiting 7 more years. But as he had already come 5 years, and he was determined to find the source of that noise, he went home and drank nothing but water for 7 years.

When finally he reached the end of those 7 long years, he once again returned to the monk and said, “It’s been 7 years and I’ve drank nothing but water, now can I find out what that noise is?” The monk said, “No, you’re still not a monk. Now we must test your faith. Go to the highest cliff in the area and jump off.” Well, the man had come this far and he wasn’t going to back down, so he went to the highest cliff and jumped.

Luckily, there was a safety net at the bottom of the cliff, and when he climbed out the monk was waiting for him. The monk led him back to his house and said, “You have passed the tests, you are now a monk. I assume you now wish to know what causes the noise you have been hearing?”

The man replied, “Oh God yes, I’ve waited over 12 years to find out.” So the monk gestured for him to follow and led him down the stairs into the basement. Once in the basement, the monk opened a door which led into a tunnel. The monk told the man to go to the end of the tunnel.

So the man started walking, it went on for ages, but finally he reached the end. There was only one more door between him and the source of the noise, he could tell. Slowly he grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door.

In the room he saw…….

I’m sorry I can’t tell you what he saw.

You’re not a monk.

2 Monks and a Pretty Lady

Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river.

There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn’t cross the river.

The big monk offered to carry her across the river on his back to which the lady accepted.

The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk and was thinking “How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?” But he kept quiet.

The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation.

Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. “How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty?”

All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite.

The big monk looked surprised and said, “I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?”

Moral: This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us and they make us angry. But like the little monk, we are not willing to let them go away. There is no point in remaining hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over. Learn to move on in life!