Laughter Death Mystery

During spiritual exploration, Ramnath learned Hotwire or Pu-Tai is better known as the Laughing Buddha. The image of Hotei is based on a Chinese Zen monk who lived over 1000 years ago. ... It was due to his large protruding stomach and smile that he came to be known as the Laughing Buddha. His image graces many temples, restaurants and homes in China and Japan.

In one of spiritual discourse Mr Ramnath heard about three Chinese mystics. Nobody knows their names now, and nobody ever knew their names. They were known only as the "Three Laughing Saints" because they never did anything else; they simply laughed. These three people were really beautiful - laughing, with their bellies shaking. And then it would become an infection and others would start laughing.

 

The whole marketplace would laugh. When just a few moments before, it was an ugly place where people were thinking only of money, suddenly these three mad people came and changed the quality of the whole marketplace. Now they had forgotten that they had come to purchase and sell. Nobody bothered about greed. For a few seconds a new world opened.

They traveled all over China, from place to place, from village to village, just helping people to laugh. Sad people, angry people, greedy people, and jealous people - they all started laughing with them. And many felt the key - you can be transformed.

Then, in one village it happened that one of the three died. The village people gathered and they said, "Now there will be trouble. Now we have to see how they laugh. Their friend has died; they must weep."

But when they came, the two were dancing, laughing and celebrating the death. The village people said, “Now this is too much. When a man is dead it is profane to laugh and dance."

They said, "The whole life we laughed with him. How can we give him the last send-off with anything else? We have to laugh, we have to enjoy, and we have to celebrate. This is the only farewell that is possible for a man who has laughed his whole life. We don't see that he is dead. How can laughter die? How can life die?"

Then the body was to be burnt, and the village people said, "We will give him a bath as the ritual prescribes." But those two friends said, "No, our friend has said, 'don’t perform any ritual and don't change my clothes and don't give me a bath. You just put me as I am on the burning pyre.' So we have to follow his instructions."

And then, suddenly, there was a great happening. When the body was put on the fire, that old man had played the last trick. He had hidden many fireworks under his clothes, and suddenly there was a festival! Then the whole village started laughing. These two mad friends were dancing, and then the whole village started dancing.

story was concluded by saying that it was not a death - it was a new life. It was informed , “Laughter is eternal, life is eternal, celebration continues. Existence is continuous, it is a continuum. Actors change but the drama continues. Waves change but the ocean continues. You laugh, you change - and somebody else laughs - but laughter continues. You celebrate, somebody else celebrates, but the celebration continues.

 

Existence is continuous, it is a continuum. There is not a single moment's gap in it. No death is death, because every death opens a new door - it is a beginning. There is no end to life; there is always a new beginning, a resurrection. If you change your sadness to a celebration, then you will also be capable of changing your death into resurrection. So, learn the art while there is still time.

Ramnath trying to understand laughing death mystery!