[Buddha-l] Seduction of a holy man

[jkirk]

I gather you refer to the Moroccan story. I like the idea in the story that 
it is the baby that speaks and saves everybody's face, because au fin, it's 
the baby that would suffer the longest without both parents. So the story 
seems to plead that in cases of fornication and pregnancy, the interest of 
the child should prevail. Reminds me of the story of Solomon and the two 
women each claiming the same baby------the one who was willing to get 
"justice" even if the baby should be cut in half, obviously had the demon 
mind for she cared not for the life of the child. In the case of the jataka 
tale sent by Wong Weng Fai, it was the wicked woman who got cut in half.

Tales fall into pieces and the pieces travel separately, forming new 
combinations, yet in some way they often stick to the same basic story type.
My responses here are not precisely relevant to Buddhist concerns, I admit..
I'm interested in how the constructions of reality and ethics get juggled by 
humans in the process of living and telling. Perhaps it's this process in 
part that maintains human interest in tales, of which la Torra has brought 
out their meaningfulness to human lives, since parts of them have been heard 
before, while other bits might seem new. But then in some villages the tales 
repertory is well-known to the adults, who enjoy hearing them again and 
again.  The professional bards, of course, are great resources since they 
know many more tales than most ordinary folks.
Tales are adjuncts to maintaining sila, in any case, it seems.
Joanna K.
================================
> On Mon, 27 Feb 2006, jkirk wrote:
>
>> Hey Stan
>> Thanks for appearing outside the cave-----any ideas about my post?
>
> I saw my shadow and beat a hasty retreat.
>
........................... Your story, on the other hand, fits
> neatly into none of the above.  It respects the weakness and uncertainty
> of the humanity of the holy man and gives (to my mind anyway) insight into
> the nature of mercy that emphasizes its pervasiveness in hiddeness.  I
> would like to write a bit more, but I'm pressed for time.  What were more
> of your thoughts, Joanna?
>
> Stan
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