[Buddha-l] Seduction of a holy man

[jkirk]

Neat story-----it sort of came back to me from having read that book umpteen
years ago. Especially impressed by Hakuin's anti-rhetoric. A genius!
Yep--this story conforms to the motif as well. I bet there are similar ones 
in the hagiographies of Christian saints.
I'm still looking for a story of the Buddha speaking from the womb and 
saving his mother, or something like that, but it might be simply a faux 
memory.
Thanks
Joanna
=============================================
> Joanna,
>
> The Jataka doesn't pop to mind, but there is this well known story about
> Hakuin (from Paul Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones):
>
>
> A beautiful girl in the village was pregnant. Her angry parents demanded 
> to
> know who was the father. At first resistant to confess, the anxious and
> embarrassed girl finally pointed to Hakuin, the Zen master whom everyone
> previously revered for living such a pure life. When the outraged parents
> confronted Hakuin with their daughter's accusation, he simply replied "Is
> that so?"
> When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was
> viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care 
> of
> the child since it was his responsibility. "Is that so?" Hakuin said 
> calmly
> as he accepted the child.
>
> For many months he took very good care of the child until the daughter 
> could
> no longer withstand the lie she had told. She confessed that the real 
> father
> was a young man in the village whom she had tried to protect. The parents
> immediately went to Hakuin to see if he would return the baby. With 
> profuse
> apologies they explained what had happened. "Is that so?" Hakuin said as 
> he
> handed them the child.
>
>
>
> Dan Lusthaus
>
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