Once upon a time there lived a rich husband and wife, and they had one and only son. From childhood he was a great mischief-maker, and his loving parents affectionately called him Tey Naun, which means “Silly.”
Years passed. With age, Tey Naun did not settle down, and this name remained with him forever.
And when something happened in the village, everyone knew that it could not have happened without the participation of Tey Naun: he was the instigator of all the scandals.
His parents were completely tired of him. After all, among other things, they also had to compensate the victims for the damage they caused. But most of all, the parents were worried about the future of Tey Naun. What will happen to their son when they die and he finds himself completely alone. And in order to make Tey Naun come to his senses, his parents decided to marry him.
They found him a nice bride, and soon after the wedding they died.
Over time, Tey Naun became overcome by remorse. He felt ashamed of both his unworthy behavior and his shameful name. And then Tey Naun decided to build a monastery and change his name.
Tey Naun did not skimp on money. He built a large and beautiful monastery. And after the holiday in honor of the consecration of the monastery, they began to add the respectful particle “u” to its former name, but the new name was never grafted onto it.
No matter how hard U Tey Naun tried to assign himself a different name, no matter where, everyone just chuckled. Then Tey Naun turned to the abbot of the monastery for advice. Having told him about his unsuccessful attempts to get rid of the hated name, Tey Naun asked the abbot for help.
“Do me a favor,” the abbot quickly responded to his request, “come closer.”
Taking a pencil, he drew several letters on Tey Naun’s forehead: “Well, here’s your new name.”
Happy Tey Naun rushed home as fast as he could. On the way, one of his friends noticed him:
- U Tey Naun! Where are you going in such a hurry?
“My name is not Tey Naun now,” he answered importantly. - Read it on my forehead and remember it.
- Come on, show me! – the friend was curious. Peering at the letters inscribed on U Tey Naun's forehead, he burst into loud laughter.
- What a comedy! Yes, it says “Tey Naun”, but in Pali!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru