30-A Monk and a Baby

Once there was a monk who lived in a village. One day a young unmarried village girl became pregnant. She did not want to expose the name of her boyfriend. When her parents asked her that who was responsible for that child, out of fear she pointed her finger to that monk.

Her parents were infuriated. The next day, the whole village turned up to blame him - "How could you?" "You dirty old man!" "You are a disgrace!" "Get out of our village, you hypocrite." etc etc. Some villagers even threatened him to take his life.

After listening to all the accusations, what he said was "Is that so?" and went back to meditate. Months went by and the young girl gave birth to a baby. The parents of the young girl were forced to find the father for the child. So the parents and the villagers went up to approach him saying "You are responsible for this baby; therefore you should bring up the baby." Once again, he said "Is that so?" and he took the young baby in his arms and went back to his hut.

By this time the he had lost his reputation but it did not trouble him. He was taking a very good care for this baby. He somehow managed to obtain milk and everything for the child needed from his neighbors. After a year, the young girl felt ashamed and guilty and wanted to see her baby. She finally told the real story to her parents. When all the villagers came to know the truth, they all felt ashamed of having wrong ideas about him.