Monks and Acharyas
Karudatta Maharshi
A monk who stood as still as a mountain, whatever came
- 4 min full story
- 2 min children's telling
- Best shared with a grown-up
- Shvetambar telling
A young monk standing alone in silent meditation is asked by angry villagers which way the cattle thieves went. He does not answer, and what the villagers do next becomes a test of everything he has learned.
What it teaches Endurance Equanimity Forgiveness
The opening of the children's telling
Long ago, there was a gentle monk named Karudatta. He walked from place to place all by himself, and he loved to stand very, very still and think peaceful thoughts. When a monk does this, he does not move and he does not talk, not even a word.
One evening Karudatta was standing quietly beside a road, at a place where it split into two paths. Some thieves came by with cows they had taken from a village. They hurried down one of the paths and were gone.
Read the whole story See plans
To carry into the day
Staying calm when you are hurt is not weakness: it is the bravest strength.
To talk about together
The villagers thought the monk was on the side of the thieves. How can we stop ourselves from judging someone before we understand them?
Retold for JainStory from the traditional narrative and checked against published Jain sources. Details vary between tellings.