Attributed to Hakuin Ekaku
«“Is that so?” (the story of the pregnant girl and the child)»
Misattributed
Verdict
It is not in Hakuin Ekaku's work
The reply “Is that so?” Hakuin supposedly gave when falsely accused of fathering a child is his best-known saying in the West, but it comes from 101 Zen Stories (Senzaki and Reps, 1939) and has not been found in his writings or in Tōrei's chronology.
Source: Senzaki, Nyogen y Paul Reps (comps.). 101 Zen Stories. Filadelfia: David McKay, 1939; incluido en Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, 1957.
What they did say
Verified words of Hakuin Ekaku
«Beings are buddha from the beginning, like water and ice: without water there is no ice, and outside beings there is no buddha.»
Zazen wasan, versos iniciales. Traducción propia del japonés.
«This very place is the lotus land; this very body is the buddha.»
Zazen wasan, versos finales. Traducción propia del japonés.
«This ocean of energy, the elixir field below the navel, the waist, legs and soles of the feet: all of it is my original face; what nostrils does that face have?»
Yasenkanna, primera de las cuatro contemplaciones del método de la introspección (naikan), en boca de Hakuin; texto de la edición de 1916 en Wikisource. Traducción propia del japonés.