Is That So?

There was once a Zen master who fine day opened the door and an outranged man handed him a baby, accusing him of having fathered the child of his daughter. 'Is that so?', he responded without protest. Everybody was outranged when the news traveled in the town and they took it as yet another poor example of a fallen guru. Our Zen master now found himself completely isolated with a baby to raise. A year later the family showed up at his door apologetic. It turned out that the daughter had fabricated the whole story because she was too embarrassed to admit the true identity of the father, but now decided she wanted to raise the child herself. So they asked whether she could please have the baby back.'Is that so?', the Zen master said as he handed the baby over to the mother.

When I first read this story I felt a lack of emotion on the part of the Zen master, which is my prejudice about the Asian spiritual philosophies in general. Yet, when I reflected back on the story it occurred to me that the Zen master would probably reply 'Is that so?' here as well.The story doesn't describe the emotional state of the Zen master at all; he may well have been dismayed at the loss of his social contacts, or confused about what to do with a newborn baby, and he was probably sad when one year later he had to return the baby after all that. What his 'Is that so?' attitude indicates instead is a complete openness to the Tao. You accept everything that comes your way and trust that it will have an important spiritual meaning. In my experience you don't need to have faith, you can find meaning in everything that happens as long as you are open to life. Open or not, you will still be emotional along the Way.