A muddy road is the name of a Zen Buddhism parable/koan in which a monk helps carry a girl across a muddy road. Two monks are traveling together down a muddy road. They meet a beautiful young woman who is unable to cross the road. One monk lifts her across the road and the two monks return to the temple. The second monk then objects, saying that monks do not go near females, particularly if they are young and beautiful and asks he why helped the girl. The first monk replies, "I left the girl by the road. Are you still carrying her?" Although it is forbidden for the monk to have anything to do with women, the monk's actions can be construed as an act of kindness rather than a breech of the rules. Muddy Road is one of 99 parables/koans from the Shaseki-shu (Collection of Stone and Sand), written late in the thirteenth century by the Japanese Zen teacher Muju.
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