Once upon a time in ancient China, there lived three old monks. Their names are not remembered today because they never revealed them to anybody. In China, they are simply known as the Three Laughing Monks.
These monks always traveled together and did nothing else but laugh. They would enter a village or a town, stand in the center of its main square, and start laughing. Slowly but surely, the people who lived and worked there, and the passersby, couldn’t resist and had to start laughing as well. Until a small laughing crowd had formed, and eventually, the laughing had spread to the whole village or town. That was the moment when the three old monks moved on to the next village.
Their laughter was their only prayer, all of their teaching, because they never spoke to anybody. They just created that situation. All over China, they were loved and respected. The people had never known such spiritual teachers before or after. They seemed to communicate that life should be taken only as a great opportunity to laugh, as if they had discovered some kind of cosmic joke.
So they traveled and laughed for many years, spreading joy and happiness throughout China. Until one day, while being at a particular village in the north province, one of them died. The people were shocked and came running from afar, leaving the fields unattended for the day, only to witness the other two monks’ reaction to this dramatic event.
They were expecting the monks to show sorrow or even cry. But the two remaining monks were laughing only harder. When asked why they weren’t mourning, they responded, “Because yesterday on our way to your village, he proposed a bet on who of us would beat the other two and die first, and now he won.” The old monk had explicitly asked to leave his old clothes on him since he had never been filthy for one day through his laughter.
As the fire was lit for the funeral pyre, to everyone’s astonishment, fireworks of a hundred colors went exploding up and down and to all directions. Finally, the people who had gathered there also joined the laughter of the two wise men.
You see, in life, maybe the only reason that we are here on this earth is so we can laugh and laugh and never stop experiencing joy and laughter. So next time you face a problem, look in the mirror and just laugh the problem away. Because your joy is what makes you alive.
Thanks for watching, and stay blessed. Remember, laughter is the best medicine, and it can transform even the most challenging moments into opportunities for joy.
