Buddhist humour and sacrilege.
glenba
New
This is my first post, so it may ramble , i apologize up front ..... my wife and i both have very active humour glands , we seem to be able to see the funny/absurd side of almost any situation , often to the point the we feel we may of over stepped the mark in showing respect for holy beings or the sacred. Given that we were brought up on a diet of Spike Milligan , Monty Python, followed by Ben Elton,and Alexie Sayle, nothing is sacred. We have no malice no deep underlying intent to ridicule, but we cant seem to grow up properly , and both believe that the path to enlightenment should be happy , it seems Buddhas all experience constant bliss, which is happiness to the extreme , seeing the "funny" is part of developing that bliss. Sure the time and place and company we are in inject the proper sense of decorum, and the occasional inner grin,knowing how the other will be seeing the present situation. I should say at this point we have been married for 38 years, we stumbled upon Buddhism together although both of us felt that we had always been living the dharma ,without the label. So whats my point , well actually i forgot why i started this post,....yeah thats it , in time of deep crisis or extreme adverse conditions, is seeing the funnyside a form of refuge? a reaction more healthy than self despair and despondency. If i try to put myself in the place of the poor victims of abuse and terror, with hell reigning down out the skies , i'm pretty sure i would be scared to death ,a normal reaction , and would go for refuge in prayer or lament, self cherishing mind arises very strongly at these times , we all want life ,we cling onto it very hard , the overriding force is just to survive at any cost, however humour might/would seem very out of place at this time ,but i wonder .........................
Comments
You are a person after my own heart.
I note a distinction in your post, which I agree with, and that is:
Seeing the 'funny side' of everything, does not mean that everything gets turned into a joke. there is a subtle difference.
The first makes light of troubles, but the second risks belittling another's anxiety and stress.
The first is commendable, the second, unconsciously (usually) callous.
I am very like yourselves; I too was nurtured by globally-famous British humour, starting as far back as Hancock's Half Hour, other radio programmes such as ITMA, The Navy Lark and others of that ilk; I also adore Dave Allen, who was as irreverent as anyone could be...
I would say, in this day and age, Humour has to be one of the essentials in any Buddhist's knapsack, on 'the path'....
There are a few of us here who can be a bit silly at times.
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Hello! Nice to meet you ...
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Your funny? Really?... I'll be the judge of that......hahaha
Join in....... I like to laugh...so we'll get along like
fish 'n chips.
Fish and chips...what a triumph of British inventiveness!
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It's just Spiny who is silly. We others just endure. :vimp: .
Hi btw and welcome.
Everyone deals with things differently. For the most part (obvious exceptions excluded) however you react is fine as long as you apply some tact and common sense and know your audience/company. Humor is a GOOD thing. Life isn't meant to be taken overly seriously, and that includes Buddhism. The best teachers retain a great sense of humor
But they use it wisely, not in a hurtful manner.
You love it really.
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The hanging on to ideals, which I see as blindness, which can be prevalent in spiritual paths requiring some ardor, is almost impossible to address without allowing humor to be a part of ones practice.
Spiny Norman the hedgehog
Went astray in the self view bog
Thinking he was Dinsdale
He kept looking over his inner tail
To catch him self from being a silly sog.
:nyah: .
I like a good laugh too. Except when it makes coffee come out of my nose.
Ok, was that, like, supposed to be funny?
I often use humour as a coping mechanism in stressful situations.
It's sometimes skillful and sometimes not.
Humor ought not to be hurtful.
Humor ought not be offensive.
Humor ought to have the right intention.
That does not mean that all humor has to be lily white.
I take the welfare of sentient beings seriously, but do not take life seriously in general. What's to get all worked up about? It's when people get worked up that they start killing each other. Relax people, daaaamn.
Yes Glenba it is a defence mechanism or a form of refuge etc, because you haven't learned to express use & control all of your emotions & feelings properly..It doesn't matter what diet you we're brought up on, & if you say it does then your living in your past. :-)
He has practised Buddhism for over 30 years, @Daveadams, so I think he probably has a fair grasp of it by now, particularly as his wife is also Buddhist...
One of the reasons Zen (and what little I know of Pureland) appeals to me is the humor. I'm pretty sure most people feel more comfortable, naturally, around a person with an easy sense of humor.
Especially, I notice if a person can laugh at themselves. I wish there were a 'relax' button to push, not for me per se, but so the poor person can just CHILL OUT, take it easy, rest a little!
The Buddha as we know him from the Pali canon wasn't a barrel of monkeys, and there are suttas mentioning laughter as part of a set of less desirable behaviors. For all we know the Buddha could have been a total wise ass, Jesus too, but what made it down the millenia didn't include much to indicate the Buddha is particulary cuddly. Playful? Yes, I think so, but if you were a Brahmin who didn't have much of a sense of humor, his playfulness would have felt to be at their expense. He liked to make sardonic metaphors, using Brahmin doctrine and ritual (the Three Fires that always burn is what comes to mind).
It is a defence mechanism against dukkha (the joke of karma klown).
You may have heard of the four noble truths (five for those requiring a bargain)
Hope that helps . . . :crazy: .
The first is commendable, the second, unconsciously (usually) callous.
Funnily enough there are other options. The sacrilegious is often a form of insight into the nature of the pompous and impeded. Taking oneself seriously is different to taking humour seriously.
Often we can not take truth directly because it belittles our self importance or attachment to the laughing Buddha. So for example the Shakyamooni Buddy taught his clones and clowns not to join the Ministry of Silly Walks. I have it on good authority that the Maitreya will have a range of silly walks to demonstrate the non verbal aspects of dharma transmission.
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@gleba, you'll get used to lobster - and he does take some getting used to...!
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Gratitude for that. It was the right place at the right time.
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It's been a rough week for me....and the frustration was building....hearing/reading
those words just helped some things fall away. ..
I had no idea that I just needed to hear...."relax"
May you be well.
May you be at peace.
May you laugh until your cheeks hurt.
I can never tell what will be helpful, to whom or when, so the best I can do is honestly express myself (and try to make some sense).
I'm glad it helped!
Gassho, Namaste, wutevs.
Quite right, but if you look at Buddhist teachers - even the old school guys teaching into their 80s all have a sense of humor - sharp, witty and self-depricating. They know how and when to use it.
I suspect this isn't a recent development, and that humor in the teaching of Dharma goes back many centuries - perhaps as far back as the Buddha.
Imho a joke can be a defensive mechanism, used against feeling pain or grief. Used that way it is probably not so healthy, because I think it is important to be able to allow negative emotions.
At the other hand a joke can be helpful against taking things too seriously.
So I suppose humor can be both harmful and helpful.
Making jokes about other people’s ideas and feelings can be helpful (when they are open to it) or harmful (when they’re stuck).
Recently we were going to meet a friend who was in the middle of a crisis. We talked about how inappropriate it would be to say something smart and Buddhist about it. At this point all we could do was acknowledges his pain. Most jokes would have been a bad idea too, at this moment.
@lobster - I need that bumper sticker once I get a car. It's fantastic.