:: LAUGHTER ::

HOTEI: THE LAUGHING BUDDHA 
“In Japan, a great mystic, Hotei, is called the laughing Buddha. He is one of the most loved mystics in Japan, and he never uttered a single word. As he became enlightened, he started laughing, and whenever somebody would ask, Why are you laughing? he would laugh more. And he would move from village to village, laughing.

A crowd will gather and he will laugh. And slowly -- his laughter was very infectious -- somebody in the crowd will start laughing, then somebody else, and then the whole crowd is laughing -- laughing because.... Why are they laughing? Everybody knows, "It is ridiculous; this man is strange, but why are we laughing?"

But everybody was laughing; and everybody was a little worried, "What will people think? There is no reason to laugh." But people would wait for Hotei, because they had never laughed in their whole life with such totality, with such intensity that after the laughter they found their every sense had become more clear. Their eyes could see better, their whole being had become light, as if a great burden had disappeared.

People would ask Hotei, "Come back again," and he would move, laughing, to another village. His whole life, for near about forty-five years after his enlightenment, he did only one thing and that was laughing. That was his message, his gospel, his scripture.

And it is to be noted that in Japan, nobody has been remembered with such respect as Hotei. You will find in every house, statues of Hotei. And he had done nothing except laugh; but the laughter was coming from such depth that it stayed with anyone who heard it and triggered his being, created a synchronicity.

Hotei is unique. In the whole world there is no other human being who has made so many people laugh -- for no reason at all. And yet, everybody was nourished by the laughter, and everybody was cleansed by the laughter, felt a well-being that he had never felt. Something from the unknowable depth started ringing bells in peoples' hearts.”

The Razor’s Edge # 27


LAUGHTER TIME WITH OSHO

1.

Paddy is drinking a few beers in the pub, and he has a worried look on his face.

"What is the matter?" asks his friend, Seamus.
Paddy drinks down his beer and says, "I am totally afraid to go near the highway, day or night."

"Why?" asks Seamus, sipping his beer.

"Well," replies Paddy, "my wife just escaped with a truck driver, and every time I hear a horn I'm afraid he is bringing her back!"


2.

Jose, the Peruvian farmer, has a donkey called Pedro. One day he lends Pedro to his mother-in-law, Mama Enchilada. That evening, when Jose goes to collect Pedro, he finds that the donkey has managed to kick his mother-in-law down the village well. The next day, at Mama Enchilada's funeral, the entire male population of the village flocks to the church. After the ceremonies, Father Gonzalez approaches Jose and says, "Your mother-in-law must have been liked very much. I have never seen so many people in my church."

"Ah!" says Jose, "they did not come to bury Mama Enchilada -- they came to borrow Pedro!"


3.

Grandpa Babblebrain is going deaf, so he is sitting on the couch watching the TV at full volume. Suddenly Boris, his wife and their kids all come bursting into the house, returning from their vacation in Hawaii.

"Hi, Grandpa," shouts Billy Babblebrain, jumping into the old man's lap. "We are back from our vacation!"

"What?" shouts Grandpa, holding his ear.

"We are back!" shouts Billy. "We saw that famous volcano!"
"What?" shouts Grandpa.

"VOLCANO!" shouts Billy. "You know, one of those things that belches and spits fire!"

"Oh, yes," says Grandpa, shaking his head. "I married one!"


4.

Old Father Fumble is invited to the local high school for its graduation ceremonies. But he is shocked and scandalized by some of the latest fashion outfits worn by the girls.

"Look at that youngster!" cries Fumble to the person next to him -- "the one with the orange hair, the cigarette, and the purple pants. Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A girl!" snaps his companion. "And by the way, she is my daughter."

"I am sorry, sir," says the flustered Fumble. "Do forgive me -- I would never had said anything had I known you were her father."

"I'm not, you idiot!" says the other. "I am her mother!"


5

The woman lion tamer had her beasts under perfect control. At her summons, the fiercest lion came meekly to her and took a piece of sugar out of her mouth. The circus crowd marvelled -- all except one man, Mulla Nasrudin. 'Anybody could do that,' he yelled from the audience.'Would you dare to do it?' the ringmaster yelled back scornfully. 'Certainly,' replied Nasrudin, 'I can do it just as well as the lion can.'


6

"Dear," asked the husband, "exactly what is hypnotism?"

"Hypnotism," replied his wife, "is getting a man into your power and then making him do whatever you want him to do."

Snorted the husband, "That's not hypnotism -- that's marriage!