Laughing Buddha

There is an ancient story of a young monk learning from the masters at his temple in China. One day the young monk came across something he did not understand, so he went to ask his teacher about the subject. When the teacher heard the question, he began laughing, then stood up and walked away, still laughing.

The young... monk was very disturbed by this reaction. For the next few days, he could not eat, sleep or think properly. After several days of this, he went back to the master and told the master how disturbed he had felt. When the master heard this, he said, do you know what your issue is? Your problem is that YOU ARE WORSE THAN A CLOWN!"
The monk was shocked to hear that, the young monk whinced how can you say such a thing?! How can I be worse than a clown?"

The teacher explained - A clown enjoys seeing people laugh. You? You feel disturbed because another person laughed. Tell me, is this not not worse than a clown?"
When the monk heard this, he began to laugh.

May we all learn to enjoy the laughter. The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.
From the "Daily Buddha"