156 - Duty of a Monk

An old woman in China supported a monk for more than twenty years. She built him a little hut and fed him while he spent all his time in meditation.

At the end of this period she wondered what progress the man had made. She decided to put him to the test by enlisting the help of a girl aflame with desire. "Go into the hut," she told the girl, "and embrace him. Then say - what shall we do now?"

The girl called on the monk at night to find him in his meditation. Without further ado she began to caress him and said, "What are we going to do now?" The monk got into a towering rage at this impertinence. He took hold of a broom and drove the girl out of the hut.

When she got back and reported what had happened the old woman was indignant. "To think that I fed that fellow for twenty years," she exclaimed.

"He showed no understanding of your need, no disposition to guide you in your error. He need not have given in to passion; but after all these years of prayer he could at least have developed some compassion."

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html