A while ago I was walking down the street (in the UK) and a monk was walking towards me, he came straight over to me and said hi and shook my hand and holding my hand with both of his hands. I felt a bit weird at the time as I am not used to strangers coming up to me in the street to shake hands. But I shook his hand and said hi to be polite and went on my way. Only now I have just come across a post stating monks are not allowed to touch women including shaking hands. I'm not sure what type of monk he was or whether it is only certain types of monks that cannot touch women. And if all monks are not allowed to touch women, it is really weird he would come over to me just to shake my hand.
Responses (1)
Two buddhist monks on their way to a monastery had to cross a river. There they met a young woman, who was afraid she could drown in the attempt to get to the other side of the river. So the older monk took her piggyback, they waded through the river and parted on the shore. Half an hour later the younger monk asked: " According to our vows we must not touch a woman, yet you even carried her on your back. How does this fit together?" And the older monk replied, " I left her on the riverbank half an hour ago, but you are still carrying her."