Ask A Monk: Humour

"What is the Buddhist view on humor? Is there a place in Buddhist practice for unharmful joke-telling, etc.?"

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[lxvlx]

although the title isn't correct :P

[yuttadhammo]

@lxvlx Oops. Uploaded the wrong video... was going to redo this one... ah well :)

[eaglerock999]

This Monk is far too serious,Dalai Lama is always laughing,I feel anything that takes the mickey out of ego is a good thing.

I cant imagine the Buddha Or Jesus having no sense of humour.

Adyashanti the non duality teacher tells us not to take anything seriously and often uses humour in his teaching .

You can have an attachment to being too serious surely?

As you can have an attachment in trying to be funny.

But if cracking a joke uplifts someone,that has to be a compassionet action.

[TheGreatCompassion]

@sampajanna The Dalai Lama is always laughing.

[gizmohawk69]

I find it ironic that this man finds humor unwholesome, considering that he always looks as if he's almost smiling.

[StudentofthePath]

@TheGreatCompassion look at what he is always laughing ABOUT.. that is the key.. I've always seen him laugh when talking about dhamma and how silly we act when we are clouded by greed, anger, and delusion. I've never seen him laugh at a knock knock joke lol.

I understand where Ven YuttaDhammo is coming from and it makes sense to make sure we are not distracting ourselves from seeing things as they truly are.

[Pandarinbaka]

You have very deep understanding about Dhamma. No like or dislike. I am so glad that we have such a wise monk like you. Thank you

[teevorian]

at 03:37 I thought Buddhism is suicide without dying.

[dustinmartinez316]

OMG. What place does humor have in the buddhist teaching has me rolling. I stopped the video there. no need to complicate it.

[squamish4244]

@UnivegaSuperSport Of course it's serious. But you have to laugh at the cosmic absurdity of the universe. One lama says that if we don't get the joke this time around, we might have to be reborn until we do.

[Letes92]

where is that? its freakin beautiful(:

[qwyzl]

there's humor of a mature nature & humor of a stupid, lower nature. 1 can be wise & have a good sense of humor. humor can be an enlightening thing, cuz if it causes over all good humor in 1, this can lead 2 thoughts of a more introspective nature. i think ppl are s'posed 2 have fun & laugh & dance & sing, but other ppl take the joy away from ppl. celebration of life should be a joyous thing of good humor. but 2 many ppl think every 1 else should be grave & sombre all the time.

[PeterTheEvilBastard]

My unenlightened opinion is- why give a fuck? ;) If its funny, laugh. And move on.

[UnivegaSuperSport]

@1ntellectualbadass

I have to wonder if the jester's hell of laughter would involve him playing the jester for demons, finding out the things that make demons laugh are quite unpleasant.