Laughter as Morning Meditation..

In a few Zen monasteries, every monk has to start his morning with laughter, and has to end his night with laughter – the first thing and the last thing! You try it. It is very beautiful. It will look a little crazy because so many serious people are all around. They will not understand. If you are happy, they always ask why. The question is foolish! If you are sad, they never ask why. They take it for granted – if you are sad, it’s okay. Everybody is sad. What is new in it? Even if you want to tell them, they are not interested because they know all about it, they themselves are sad. So what is the point of telling a long story? – cut it short!

But if you are laughing for no reason, then they become alert – something has gone wrong. This man seems to be a little crazy because only crazy people enjoy laughter; only in madhouses will you find crazy people laughing. This is unfortunate, but this is so.

It will be difficult, if you are a husband or a wife it will be difficult for you to suddenly laugh early in the morning. But try it – it pays tremendously. It is one of the most beautiful moods to get up with, to get out of the bed with. For no reason! because there is no reason. Simply, you are again there, still alive – it is a miracle! It seems ridiculous! Why are you alive? And again the world is there. Your wife is still snoring, and the same room, and the same house. In this constantly changing world – what Hindus call the ‘maya’ – at least for one night nothing has changed? Everything is there: you can hear the milkman and the traffic has started, and the same noises – it is worth laughing for!…
If you can
laugh totally,
it will give you
a moment of
no-time, no-mind.