Three Laughing Monks Story — Zen Motivation
Buddhist Story
Once upon a time in ancient China, there lived three old monks. Their names are not remembered today simply because they never revealed them to anybody. In China, they are simply known as the three laughing monks. They always traveled together and did nothing else but laugh.
They entered a village or a town, stood in the center of its main square, and started laughing. Slowly but surely, the people who lived and worked there, and the passersby, couldn’t resist and had to start laughing as well, until a small laughing crowd had formed, and eventually, the laughter spread to the whole village or town. That was the moment when the three old monks moved on to the next village. Their laughter was their only prayer, all of their teaching, because they never spoke to anybody — they just created that situation.
All over China, they were loved and respected. The people had never known such spiritual teachers before or after. They seemed to communicate that life should be taken only as a great opportunity to laugh, as if they had discovered some kind of cosmic joke. So, they traveled and laughed for many years, spreading joy and happiness throughout China.
Until one day, while being in a particular village in the northern province, one of them died. The people were shocked and…
