the Laughing Saints .. (05/30/13)
Once upon a time in China, there were three mystics — known as the “Laughing Saints”, because they ever did was laugh. Whenever they would encounter a fellow traveler on the road, they would wave and laugh. Whenever they would be asked a question or offered advice, they would smile and laugh. And whenever they would pause to rest, they would sit and laugh.
These three men were so beautiful– always laughing; sometimes tears of joy running down their faces and always their bellies shaking with mirth.
And, of course, whenever others would be near them for even a short time, their happiness would spread and those others would start laughing as well. When they were in someone’s home, the entire household would laugh. When they would walk through a town, the entire marketplace would smile & giggle. When they sat in a temple, all the monks would roll & roar. Where there had before been sadness & worry, there came joy & gratitude. Where there had before been greed & callousness, there blossomed giving & kindness. And where there had before been seriousness & arrogance, there awoke a sense of humility & celebration.
They moved all over China in this way — road to road, town to town, home to home; simply helping people remember to laugh. And everywhere they went, a new world was reborn — Wherever they passed, even if it was just for a few minutes, others were transformed; reawakened to how glorious life could always be.
Then, during one of their visits to a larger village, it happened that one of the three mystics took ill and died.
The villagers were stunned at the news, and whispered their certainty that the laughter of the other two would surely cease. After all, “Their friend has died; so they must rightly weep.”
And yet, when the two resurfaced a short time later, they were seen laughing & hugging & dancing — carrying on even more joyously than before.
Unsettled at first by this behavior, the villagers eventually asked the two why they were profaning the death of their friend in this manner. Upon hearing this question, both men paused, and the one nearest the questioner turned with a smile and said, “We have laughed with him our entire lives. How can we give him his final farewell with anything else? Do you see? To truly honor another’s passing, we MUST dance … we MUST sing … we MUST laugh. For this is the only remembrance that is fitting for a friend with whom we were blessed to walk and live.”
A few days later, the villagers offered to bathe & prepare the body for the funeral pyre, and yet his two friends gently refused their offer, saying “No, our friend told us clearly on his deathbed that we were not to perform any ritual or even remove his clothes, but were to place his body upon the fire exactly as he was when he died … and this is what we will do.”
And that is exactly what they did. The fire was lit and the body was reverently placed upon it … and then the most wonderful thing happened.
For just before his death, the Laughing Saint had stuffed hundreds of fireworks into his clothes, so that as his body burned, his funeral suddenly became a festival.
And everyone couldn’t help but start to shout, and to dance … and to laugh.
The night no longer was about one man’s death,
… but had become an entire town’s new life.
(inspired by anonymous)
“I have said & done these things that my Joy might reside within you, and that your Joy might be complete.” ~ Jesus Christ (John 15:11)
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