once krishna said

In Japan, a great mystic, Hotei, is called the laughing Buddha. He is one of the most loved mystics in Japan, and he never uttered a single word. As he became enlightened, he started laughing, and whenever somebody would ask, Why are you laughing? he would laugh more. And he would move from village to village, laughing. A crowd will gather and he will laugh. And slowly -- his laughter was very infectious -- somebody in the crowd will start laughing, then somebody else, and then the whole crowd is laughing -- laughing because.... Why are they laughing? Everybody knows, "It is ridiculous; this man is strange, but why are we laughing?" But everybody was laughing; and everybody was a little worried, "What will people think? There is no reason to laugh." But people would wait for Hotei, because they had never laughed in their whole life with such totality, with such intensity that after the laughter they found their every sense had become more clear. Their eyes could see

I have heard about a great warrior in Japan, a samurai, a very famous swordsman: One night when he came tired after the whole day's fight in the fields and he was just going to fall into bed, he saw a rat. And the rat was looking at him ferociously! The samurai tried to kill the rat with his sword. He was one of the best swordsmen known, but somehow he missed. He hit many times, he broke his sword, and he could not kill the rat. He became really afraid: "The rat seems to be very mysterious. This is no ordinary rat!" He started, perspiring - he had never perspired. He had been a fighter his whole life and now a rat had defeated him. He ran out, asked his wife what to do. The wife said, "You are a fool! You need not kill a rat. Have you ever heard of anybody killing a rat by a sword? You just take our cat inside." And the cat was brought inside. It was no ordinary cat, it was the great warrior's cat. She was also trained in many things; she was one of the most

A young monk was staying in a monastery. He had come to sit in the presence of an old sage but within a few days he felt that the old man did not know anything at all. Listening to the same things every day he got fed up. He thought that he should leave this monastery and search somewhere else for another master. This was not the place for him.  But on the day he was to leave, another monk visited the monastery.  That night the inmates of the monastery gathered and they talked about many things. The new monk was very knowledgeable about so many things, very subtle and perceptive, very deep and very intense, and the young monk thought that this was how a master should be. Within two hours the new monk had mesmerized everyone. The young monk thought that the old master must be feeling a lot of pain and very depressed that he was so old and yet had not learnt anything, while this newcomer knew so much.  After two hours, when the talks were over, the guest monk looked at the old master and

A Zen master Hakuin lived in a village in Japan. He was very famous, and had great reputation. The whole village worshipped and respected him. Songs were sung all over the village in his honor. But one day everything changed. A young girl in the village became pregnant and gave birth to a child. When her family asked her whose child it was she said it was the child of the young Hakuin.  How long does it take for admirers to become enemies? How long? It does not take even a short while because inside the mind of an admirer condemnation is always hidden. The mind just waits for a chance, and the day admiration ends, condemnation begins. Those people who show respect can change in one minute to being disrespectful. The people who are touching a person's feet can within a moment start cutting the same person's head off.  There is no difference between respect and disrespect - they are two faces of the same coin.  The people of the whole village attacked the Hakuin's hut. For a

One man declared to the emperor of China, ”Now you have to announce it and recognize me as the greatest archer in China. I am ready for any challenge.” And he was absolutely perfect, one hundred percent successful. But the king said, ”Have you heard about an old archer who lives deep in the mountains?” He said, ”I have heard about him, but I am ready to contest.” The king laughed. He said, ”You should go and meet that old man. If he recognizes you, I will recognize you, because I don’t know archery.... But he is a great archer, perhaps the greatest, so you should go. Bring his recognition, and my recognition is available. But without asking him I cannot do it. It is not a question of a challenge.” So the man had to travel to the high mountains, where he found a very old man whose back was bent, who could not stand straight. He asked, ”Are you the archer?” The man said, ”I used to be. But perhaps half a century has passed, and when I became a perfect archer, according to my master, I ha