Tanzan
Tanzan was a 19th-century Japanese
Buddhist monk and professor of philosophy at the Imperial University. His wisdom comes down to us today in the
form of the following Zen story or koan.
Tanzan and Ekido were walking together down a muddy
road in the rain. Coming around a bend
in the road, they arrived at a small, swift stream, where a lovely young girl
in full dress kimono stood crying.
“Why are you crying?” asked Tanzan.
In between tears, the girl explained that she was due
at a wedding in a village on the far side of the stream, but to cross the
stream meant to ruin her kimono and, needless to say, her entrance.
“Come on, girl.” said Tanzan. With that, he hoisted the girl on his back,
waded across the stream, and deposited her on the far side, high, dry, and
happy. She went off to the wedding,
there presumably to catch the bouquet and/or get drunk. Tanzan and Ekido continued on down the road.
Ekido held his tongue until that night when they
reached a lodging temple. Then he could
no longer restrain himself. “We monks
don’t go near women,” he told Tanzan, “especially not young and lovely
ones. Our order forbids it. Yet you carried that girl across the stream. Why did you carry that girl?”
“I left the girl at the stream,” replied Tanzan. “Why do you carry her still?”