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.
