Xunzi once said: “A rolling pebble stops in a hollow; a spreading rumor stops at the wise.”
An old Zen master lived quietly in a village. No matter what people said or did to him, he would simply reply, “Is that so?”
A couple next door had a beautiful daughter. One day, they discovered she was pregnant. Under pressure, she murmured, “The master.”
Furious, the parents confronted him. The master only said, “Is that so?”
When the baby was born, he took it in and raised it alone. Villagers sneered and gossiped, but he remained calm, as if nothing had happened.
A year later, the young mother could no longer bear her guilt. She confessed that the father was a local young man.
Ashamed, the parents brought her to apologize. The master listened quietly, then said, “Is that so? It is all like a dream that never was.”
We are often deceived by appearances and trapped by rumors. But the wise do not argue. They let time reveal the truth.
The master could have defended himself. Instead, he chose stillness. That is wisdom.
Time tests character. Stillness reveals truth.