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 "He was one of the most beautiful persons who have ever walked on earth. He was known to people as The Laughing Buddha, he used to laugh continuously."
"It is said that the day he became enlightened he started laughing and then he never stopped laughing. Many years he lived; he would move from one town to another, laugh-ing, from one marketplace to another laughing."
"People used to wait for Hotei to come to their village be-cause he brought such joy, such blessings" "He never uttered a single word, never. You asked about Buddha and he would laugh. You asked about enlightenment and he would laugh. You asked about truth and he would laugh. Laughter was his only message."
"People asked him: Why are you laughing?' Once he said: "Because I have become enlightened!"
"But", they said, "we can't see any relationship between enlightenment and laughter. What is the point of laugh-ing?"
Hotei said: "I am laughing because I was searching for which was already in me. I was searching the seeker; it was impossible to seek it. Where can you seek the see-ker? How can you know the knower?
It was like a dog chasing its own tail or you chasing your own shadow; you cannot catch hold of it. It was so ridicu-lous, the whole effort was so absurd! That's why I am laughing: I have always been a buddha!
Now it looks very strange that for millions of lives I remain-ed unconscious. It seems unbelievable how I went on mis-sing myself. Now that I have known, a great laughter is arising in me."
"And it is said he continued to laugh till his death; that was his only message to the world."
Be a Hotei unto yourself
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