Rondina, Erica Mae F.

December 15, 2019

BSA 1-11

Muddy Road

Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy
rain was still falling.

Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to
cross the intersection.

‘Come on, girl,’ said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over
the mud.

Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple.
Then he no longer could restrain himself. ‘We monks don’t go near females.’ He told
Tanzan, especially not young a lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?’

‘I left the girl there,’ said Tanzan. ‘Are you still carrying her?’

Reflection Paper on the Muddy Road

Buddhism, a religion founded by Siddhartha Gautama, believes that for a man

not to suffer, he must not practice the art of attachment to certain things. Happiness in
the present time is good but grasping the idea of happiness, holding onto it, and fearing
to lose this happiness may result into its contradicting emotion which is sadness. This
does not state that the enjoyment of happiness must be stopped, however, the craving
for too much happiness and its pursuit must be. Therefore, letting go of attachments can
result into inner peace and prosperity as we empty our minds with thoughts that may
ruin our perspective about life.

The Buddhism’s teaching regarding to non-attachment is applicable to all

feelings, despite if it is positive or negative. This teaching is illustrated using a Zen story
titled “Muddy Road”, wherein Ekido was attached to a rule that implies the prohibition of
Monks to touch females. On the other hand, Tanzan was not attached to the rule and it
is very much evident that he is not suffering throughout their journey. If both of them will
be compared, the irony of their situation can be distinguished, as the one who
committed the sin did not suffer at all, while the witness of the sin suffers and grieves
despite the idea that he is innocent according to the rule. This Zen story shows how
attachment can badly affect your life, Ekido is guilty and remorseful while Tanzan allows
himself to be bold and free, and showing that no rule could affect his love for the
present moment.

The concept of non-attachment can also benefit in our daily lives, be it on our
political beliefs, religious beliefs, personal beliefs and such. Sometimes, we would
realize that we are in a situation wherein we are annoyed so much when another person
breaks our own rules. For instance, the escalator etiquette, if not followed, would cause
annoyance to those who follow the rule, sometimes it goes overboard and the person
who committed the mistake would be publicly posted in social networking sites,
garnering disbeliefs and hate comments. This shows how other people fumes the entire
day whenever they see someone breaking the rules.

Perhaps, the only solution to be genuinely happy is to let go of the attachments

that makes people suffer. However, letting go does not necessarily mean that we are
avoiding to make some changes for the better. If viewed in a different perspective,
letting go of the attachment towards some things and issues may even have a positive
outcome. Sometimes, if we voice out our thoughts about an issue with too much
attachment, it may cause resistance to the other side. By letting the attachment go, we
would be enabled to express our beliefs and present our evidence so that other people
can hear, comprehend, and hopefully, make change instead of triggering opposition.

Without attachment, people with opposing beliefs can communicate well, ask the
appropriate questions with each other, and even come up with better conclusions. The
opposed groups may conduct brain storming without having to worry about anger and
violent reactions with each other’s’ opinions. Thus, it creates and maximizes the
opportunities to strengthen our ideas and change it to something better and more
objective. Without the opposition, a human cannot probably come up to something
rational as our senses are limited and it needs others’ opinion so that our idea could
grow and prosper.