A Zen Story that will Help you to Leave the Past Behind.

In Buddhism, we always talk about Upādāna.

Upādāna means attachment, which is a primary source of suffering.

We often cling to everything around us — people, pets, objects, and experiences. However, not only do we crave what’s pleasant and appealing, but also what’s painful and stressful.

The ugly truth is that our mind loves to grasp onto anything that makes it function — a book, a movie, a problem, or…the past. We may be able to let go of a situation, but we can never let go of what a situation makes us feel or think.

Unpleasant events come and go, but their impact lingers within us. We almost always form an unhealthy attachment to our past because of its nature: , uncontrollable, unchangeable. And so we mentally chew on the past again and again until we figure it all out.

But can we really ever figure it out? Can we change it? Can we go back to it? We can’t, but we can put it behind us.

This simple Zen story might help us to move on:

“Two traveling Zen monks were about to wade across a river when a young woman asked them to carry her over the swift water. Both of these monks had taken advanced vows and were not permitted to…