In the children’s book Zen Shorts by Jon Muth, a giant panda named Stillwatertells three stories to kids. All of the stories are famous Buddhist teachings, and you may be familiar with them even if you haven’t seen this beautifully illustrated book.

　　在琼·穆特给孩子们写的《禅宗小故事》一书中，一个名叫静水的大熊猫给小孩子们讲了三个故事。这些故事都是著名的佛教教义，即便你还没有读过这本美丽的图画书，里面的故事你可能已经颇为熟悉了。

　　The third story Stillwater shares is called “A Heavy Load”.

　　One day two traveling monks reached a town and saw a young womanwho rused to cross a river because she did not wish to get her silken robeswet or dirty. So she impatiently scolded her attendants, who were burdened with heavy packages.

　　The younger monk walked bythe young woman without speaking. But the older monk stopped and picked her upon his back, carrying her across the mud. Not only did she not thank the monk, she shoved him out of her way when he put her down and scurried by him haughtily.

　　As the two monks continued on their way,the younger monk was brooding. After a long time, he finally spoke out loudly,

　　“That woman back there was very selfish and rude, but you picked her up on your back and carried her! Then she didn’t even thank you!”

　　“I set the woman down hours ago,” the older monk replied. “Why are you still carrying her?”

　　静水讲的第三个故事叫做《沉重的包袱》：

　　一天，两个云游僧人到达一个小镇，看见一个年轻的女人，因为怕弄湿弄脏自己的丝裙而拒绝过河。因此她不耐烦地斥责身负重行李的随从。

　　年轻的和尚什么也没有说的经过妇女的身边。但是年长的和尚停下来，背起她穿过泥泞的河。上岸后，妇女不仅没有感谢和尚，还在和尚放下她时，猛然推开他，傲慢地匆匆扬长而去。

　　两个和尚继续上路，年轻的和尚一直在沉思。过了很长一段时间，他终于大声说出来：

　　“那个女的既自私又无理，你还要背她过河!而且事后她连声谢谢都没说!”

　　“几个小时前我就把她放下了，”年长的和尚回答说，“你却为何一直无法放下她?”

　　I think of this Zen story whenever I find a dirty cup in our television room or clothing on the floor instead of in the hamper, or notice that a co-worker dropped the ball ona small task. I remind myself that I have two options — I can be like the young monk and throw a fit and be in a bad mood and let it annoy me for hours, or I can be like the older monk and take care of the problem myself and immediately let go of the frustration. I get to decide if I want the cup or errant sock or unfinished task to clutter up my mind and put me in a bad mood, and, since I’d rather not have that clutter wasting my time and energy, I usually choose to be like the older monk.

　　每当我看到客厅里有用过没洗的水杯，或丢在地板上而不是篮子里的脏衣服，或者看到同事有一些小任务没能完成，我都会想起这个禅宗故事。我提醒自己有两个选择——我可以像那个年轻的和尚一样发一通脾气，让坏情绪占据自己好几个小时，或者我可以选择像那个年长的和尚一样自己解决掉那个问题，然后立刻忘记坏情绪。我必须决定我是否想让那个没洗的杯子、到处乱丢的袜子或没完成的任务使我心情不好。由于我并不想让这些负面的情绪浪费我的时间和精力，我通常选择那个年长和尚的做法。

　　I’m not amaid, and I’m not suggesting you become one either, but I get to decide how I’m going to react to a situation. Remembering, too, that I don’t know the full story behind why the glass or socks are out of place or why a task at work waslt unfinished. For all I know, my co-worker got an important call from aclient and had to stop a project mid-way through completion to handle an emergency. By helping out, instead of getting frustrated and throwing a fit, I’m making the situation better for myself and others. I get to choose not to fill my time with more clutter than the small item I encountered.

　　我不是个奴仆，我也不希望你也变成这样，但我必须决定我如何应对这些情况。而且也别忘了，我并不知道到底为什么杯子或者袜子被乱放，也不知道那个任务究竟为什么没有完成。我所知道的就是：我的同事接到一个重要的客户电话，然后必须停下手中的工作去应对一个紧急情况。与其沮丧并大发脾气，不如帮助他解决问题，改善情况对我、对他都有好处。所以我选择去完成这些小的任务，而不是浪费时间在生气上。

　　That said, if there is a persistent habit of other people leaving messes in their wake, a conversation about that behavior is certainly in order. However, frustration scaused by occasional messes are usually not worth carrying around with you and cluttering up your mind, energy, and emotions.

　　也就是说，如果有些人养成了给别人创造麻烦的习惯，就必须找他们谈谈。不过，偶尔乱七八糟的事所造成的挫折一般就不值得耿耿于怀了，这样做只能困扰自己的心灵、能量和情绪。

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