Buddha and the Comedian: A Story
Dec. 22nd, 2005 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flamingswordAn old friend, Bryan, would tell a story about the Zen Buddhist's reaction to irritating people, and I've been looking online for it, to show it to people, and can't find it. So I'm going to tell it, and hope it catches on in your headspace.
The Buddha and the Comedian
Once upon a time, in the mountains of China there lived an incarnation of the Buddha. And in this same age, in the court of the Emperor, there lived the imperial Comedian. Comedy in that age was mostly satire, and the Comedian was so skilled that he could irritate the Emperor himself, and still make him laugh.
As time wore on, the Comedian aged and thought of retiring. As was the custom, he wanted to achieve some crowning glory so that his career would not soon be forgotten. He decided to attempt the impossible: to piss off the Buddha and make him laugh.
So the Comedian went into the mountains and found the cave in which the Buddha was meditating, and he sat at the feet of the Buddha. He contemplated all that he knew of the Buddha.
He at first tried to engage the Buddha by satirizing his life and making him laugh at himself, but the Buddha continued to meditate and did not laugh. He gave this up after a day and began to question the Buddha, to draw him into a dialogue, but the Buddha merely listened. After a day, the Comedian gave up on this, too.
And then he began to insult the Buddha. For a day, having gained no reaction, he insulted the Buddha's teachings, his students, his friends, his cave. He insulted the Buddha's mother. The satirist became desperate to make the holy man react.
Exhausted, at the end of the third day, the Comedian stopped for breath, and the Buddha held up his hand to prevent the Comedian from starting again. The Comedian was suddenly filled with hope that he would finally be getting audience feedback from the toughest of all possible crowds. The Buddha lowered his hand and spoke, "If a man and a woman meet on a road, and the woman gives to the man a gift that he does not want, to whom does the gift belong?"
And the comedian was very confused. But he thought about it, and he replied, "Well, it belongs to the woman, of course. The man doesn't want it."
The Buddha nodded his assent and said, "You have come to my cave, and for three days you have given me gifts that I do not want. And they are yours."
The Buddha and the Comedian
Once upon a time, in the mountains of China there lived an incarnation of the Buddha. And in this same age, in the court of the Emperor, there lived the imperial Comedian. Comedy in that age was mostly satire, and the Comedian was so skilled that he could irritate the Emperor himself, and still make him laugh.
As time wore on, the Comedian aged and thought of retiring. As was the custom, he wanted to achieve some crowning glory so that his career would not soon be forgotten. He decided to attempt the impossible: to piss off the Buddha and make him laugh.
So the Comedian went into the mountains and found the cave in which the Buddha was meditating, and he sat at the feet of the Buddha. He contemplated all that he knew of the Buddha.
He at first tried to engage the Buddha by satirizing his life and making him laugh at himself, but the Buddha continued to meditate and did not laugh. He gave this up after a day and began to question the Buddha, to draw him into a dialogue, but the Buddha merely listened. After a day, the Comedian gave up on this, too.
And then he began to insult the Buddha. For a day, having gained no reaction, he insulted the Buddha's teachings, his students, his friends, his cave. He insulted the Buddha's mother. The satirist became desperate to make the holy man react.
Exhausted, at the end of the third day, the Comedian stopped for breath, and the Buddha held up his hand to prevent the Comedian from starting again. The Comedian was suddenly filled with hope that he would finally be getting audience feedback from the toughest of all possible crowds. The Buddha lowered his hand and spoke, "If a man and a woman meet on a road, and the woman gives to the man a gift that he does not want, to whom does the gift belong?"
And the comedian was very confused. But he thought about it, and he replied, "Well, it belongs to the woman, of course. The man doesn't want it."
The Buddha nodded his assent and said, "You have come to my cave, and for three days you have given me gifts that I do not want. And they are yours."
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Date: 2023-06-19 11:45 pm (UTC)— Sage
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Date: 2023-06-20 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-06-20 03:05 am (UTC)— Sage