Laughinging 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.

”What is happening?

This is what happened in the famous story of Subhuti. He was sitting under a tree with no thought, not even the thought of no-thought. Suddenly, flowers showered. He was amazed – ”What is happening?” He looked all around; flowers and flowers from the sky.

Seeing that he was amazed, gods told him that ”Don’t be amazed. We have heard the greatest sermon on emptiness today. You have delivered it. Celebration we are making, and we are throwing these flowers on you as a symbol, appreciating and celebrating your sermon on emptiness.”

Subhuti must have shrugged his shoulders and said, ”But I have not spoken.” The gods said, ”Yes, you have not spoken, neither have we heard – that is the greatest sermon on emptiness.”

If you speak, if you say ”I am empty,” you have missed the point. Up to the thought of no-thought it is nirvichara samadhi, with no contemplation. But still the last part... the elephant has passed; the tail has remained – the last part – and sometimes the tail proves bigger than the elephant because it is so subtle. To throw away thoughts is easy. How to throw emptiness? – how to throw no-thought? It is very, very subtle; how to grasp it? That’s what happened when the Zen Master said to the disciple, ”Go and throw this emptiness!” The disciple said, ”But how to throw emptiness?” Then the Master said, ”Then carry it away; go throw it, but don’t stand before me with emptiness in your head. Do something!”

It is very subtle. One can cling to it, but then the mind has deceived you at the last point. Ninety-nine point nine you had reached; just the last step, and hundred degrees would have been complete and you would have evaporated.

By avoiding any situation one cannot face the challenges of life

Once upon a time, there was a tortoise who lived on a ship. One day the ship sank. After swimming for a long time, the tortoise reached a deserted land surrounded by water on all three sides. The landward side led up to a big, steep, craggy mountain.

The tortoise was tired from the long swimming, looked. For food, but there was nothing in that land for the tortoise to eat. To avoid starving to death, the tortoise decided to climb to the top of the mountain, hoping that on the other side of the mountain he would find something to eat.

As he got to the snow-covered summit of the mountain, he was freezing cold. Suddenly a snow storm started. He struggled hard and managed to make out a small pathway leading towards the other side of the mountain.snow

But the path was guarded by a big monster which were making lots of noise. The tortoise was terrified to death hearing the noises and wanted to hide his head inside his shell, but he controlled his fear and looked around him. He saw that many other animals were lying dead. The tortoise understood that those animals had died due to the unbearable cold. So the tortoise didn’t go into his shell for he understood that he too would die if he did not find a way to escape from that place.

He rallied his spirit and gathered courage to make his long journey towards the other side, which meant he had to cross the monsters.

As the tortoise started towards the monsters, the monsters changed their shapes. The tortoise came very close to the monster. Suddenly, the tortoise realized that it was actually a large pile of rocks and not monsters at all. The rocks were actually formed in the shape like monsters. As for the, the tortoise realized this was just the sound of the wind blowing through a small cave.

The tortoise felt confident and carried on with journey, and eventually descended into a beautiful valley. The valley was filled with woods, and plenty of food. The tortoise lived in that valley very happily, and became known to the others in the valley as the Brave Little Tortoise.

By avoiding any situation one cannot face the challenges of life. Something or the other will challenging us. It will create fear and insecurity in us. The only way to deal with the fear is to face it with all strength and faith. Most of the fears will be imaginary. Every problem has a solution. When our mind is clouded with fear we cannot act rationally and wisely.


This is the need of the hour. Let us face the Corono19 with all our might


Most of us are aware of the story on how once a troop of monkeys surrounded Swami Vivekananda making him unable to move. He managed to run and to his disbelief even the monkeys ran after him. He fastened the speed and so did the monkeys. He couldn’t find a way to escape and continued running. An old monk called out to him and said, “Face the brutes!” And what happened later is a well-known part of the story. Swami Vivekananda stopped running, turned back and faced the monkeys for which the monkeys fled away. And hence proving that the best way to get out of fear was to face the fear itself.

What if he had not turned to face the monkeys, let’s say he would run for kilometres and find those monkeys not behind him anymore. What would he feel? He would have thanked God for saving him, maybe discover a new way to get rid off monkeys for the next time or maybe even decide not to take the route again in his life.

But what he felt after facing the monkeys has added much more to his attitude than what he would have got if he had escaped. The sense of self-belief, the feeling of handling fear, a changed insight on how to handle problems better and much more. What he earned by facing the monkeys was much more than what he would have earned by escaping. The decision to face fear set the perfect end result for him. It sure is a very small incident, but not to forget the same small incident brought a major impact in his life.

We are offered with the similar kind of incidents in life where we let the moments of fear conquer us. At first it slowly comforts you and eventually it consumes you.

It’s absolutely ok to be afraid of something, it’s ok to let that emotion comfort you, but make sure not to get carried away by the same emotions. Decide to face it and that’s where you bring in the difference for your life. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it is the way you handle the fear. It’s never easy to face your fears all at once. It takes time, it takes practice and not to miss, yes! it takes more fears, but once you face it you realise why it’s worth facing it. And every time you face it you realise how much more strength you have within.

Hindu Monk

Mrikandu was a great rishi. Marudvati was his wife. For a long time they had no children. The rishi prayed to lord Siva. Lord Siva appeared to him, and said, "I am pleased with you, Mrikandu. Tell me, do you want a hundred sons, who will live for a long time, but will all be foolish? Or, do you want one very intelligent son, who will live for only sixteen years?"

The rishi at once said, "Lord, give me that one intelligent son."

Lord Siva said, "Good! You shall have him."

Soon the rishi got a son. He named him Markandeya. The boy grew to be very intelligent and handsome. The rishi invested him with the sacred thread. Markandeya learnt the Vedas and Sastras, easily. Everyone liked him.

As the boy was getting on to be sixteen, Rishi Mrikandu became sadder and sadder. One day Markandeya asked his father: "Father, why do you look so sad?"

The rishi said, "Son! What shall I say? When Lord Siva gave you to me, he said you would live only sixteen years. You are now about to reach that age. How can Iand your mother bear to lose you as we will at the end of this year?"

Markandeya said, "Father! Is that the reason? Lord Siva is very kind to His devotees. You yourself told me that. He has saved many from death before. I have read about it in the Puranas. I shall therefore worship Lord Siva day and night from today. I am sure, He will save -me too! "

RishiMrikandu was very happy to hear his son say this. He blessed his son. Markandeya built a Siva-Linga at a spot on the sea-shore. He started worshiping Lord Siva morning, noon and night. He sang bhajans, and often danced in joy.

On the last day, Markandeya was about to sing bhajans, when Yama, the Lord of Death, came to him. Yama rode on a buffalo. He held a noose in his hand. He spoke to Markandeya, "Stop your bhajan! You boy! Your life in this world is over. Be ready to die."

Markandeya was not afraid. He clung to the Siva-Linga as one clings to one's mother.

Yama threw his noose round the boy's neck, and pulled him along with the Siva- Linga.

Then the Siva-Linga burst open and Lord Siva came out of it, Lord kicked Yama in the chest, and said, "Yama, begone! Don't touch this boy. He is my beloved devotee. He will live forever!"

Yama went away crest-fallen. Markandeya then prayed to Lord Siva more fervently than ever. This prayer says at the end of each line, "What can Death do to me?" Many people recite this prayer even now.

Markandeya came home, and fell at the feet of his parents. They embraced him, and wept with joy.

Markandeya became a great rishi, and lived very long.

God helps those who help themselves

The rain gods had been smiling the whole night. The roads were muddy and the potholes were filled to the brim. It was the day for the market and Raju the farmer was riding his cart along the country road. He had to reach the market early so that he can sell his hay. It was very difficult for the horses to drag the load through the deep mud. On his journey suddenly the wheels of the horse cart sank into the mire.

The more the horses pulled, the deeper the wheel sank. Raju climbed down from his seat and stood beside his cart. He searched all around but could not find anyone around to help him. Cursing his bad luck, he looked dejected and defeated. He didn’t make the slightest effort to get down on the wheel and lift it up by himself. Instead he started cursing his luck for what happened. Looking up at the sky, he started shouting at God, “I am so unlucky! Why has this happened to me? Oh God, come down to help me.”

After a long wait, God finally appeared before Raju. He asked Raju, “Do you think you can move the chariot by simply looking at it and whining about it? Nobody will help you unless you make some effort to help yourself. Did you try to get the wheel out of the pothole by yourself? Get up and put your shoulder to wheel and you will soon find the way out.”

Raju was ashamed of himself. He bent down and put his shoulder to the wheel and urged on the horses. In no time the wheel was out of the mire. Raju learnt his lesson. He thanked God and carried on his journey happily.

Moral: God helps those who help themselves.

In this world, there's not one person who is Useless

Once there was a man who did not make it to university. So, his mother got him a wife. After the marriage, he worked as a teacher in a primary school. Due to the lack of experience, he was squashed by the students in less than a week. When he returned home, his wife dried his tears. She comforted him with these words. 'When one is too full, he could either pour it out what's in him or he just could not pour it out at all. You should not be too sad about it. Probably there is a more suitable job waiting for you out there.'

Later on, he found another job and not for so long, he was fired due to his slowness. This time, the wife commented. 'There are always people who are skilful and non skilful. Some have experience from their years of work. As for you, you were in school all this while. So, how could you acquire these needed skills?'

He went for a number of jobs but never stayed long in those jobs. Each time, he would return home with a dejected spirit. His wife would always comfort him and never for once, she was disappointed or resentful.

He was in his thirties when he acquired a flair in languages. He became a counselor in a school for the deaf and mute. Later on, he opened a school for the disabled. A few years later, he set up chain stores in different cities and provinces selling apparatus & equipment for the disabled. He became a multi-millionaire.

One day he asked his wife. 'When I was looking bleak at my own future, what's the reason that you have so much faith in me?' His wife gave him a very simple reply. She said, 'When a piece of land is not suitable for planting wheat, we could try planting beans. If the beans are not growing well, we could try planting fruits or gourds. If the vegetation is not economical, we can instead scatter buckwheat seeds. These seeds will one day bloom into flowers. On this land itself, there will be one seed that will germinate and grow.'

After having listened to the wife's explanation, he cried. His wife's faith, love, patience, and persistence in him is liken to the one seed in the land. This is the seed that persists and creates the miracle on this piece of land.

"In this world, there's no one person who is useless. It is just that they have not positioned themselves firmly in right place.