I was speaking with a friend a couple of days ago who felt a bit down and lonely, and as the conversation went on I suddenly remembered a story I read somewhere about a monk in Tibet. I used it as a life lesson for my friend to remember…….

Two Tibetan monks were walking in to town from their monastary in order to get supplies, one, a pupil or understudy, and the other, his master. A few miles down the road they came across a man lying in the middle of the street…he was a down and out, a tramp, and looked wretched. The pupil gave him a wide birth and walked around him, but his master went over to the man, picked him up and carried him to the road side to safety. Having got their supplies, the two monks now headed back to the monastery. The pupil became very quiet and troubled as their journey continued, the master sensing this asked his student "what is troubling you?" the pupil replied…."master, why did you carry that man to safety he was wretched?"……the master then replied…."I left him back in the town, why are YOU still carrying him?".

That day, the pupil had been given a valuable lesson, "never carry a burden any further than you have to"