According to Osho, he genuinely finds everything funny because life itself is a cosmic joke, yet he never caters to your sense of humor. His jokes are a meditative device: laughter momentarily suspends the mind, creating a gap free of thought. In that gap he can connect and transmit insight directly, slipping truth past habitual defenses.
I laugh at life and use jokes not to please you, but to pause your busy mind so real understanding can slip in.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, do you find your jokes funny or are you catering for our sense of humour? P.s. We love them!
To me the whole life is a joke and I find everything funny. It is all so ridiculous. But remember, I am not catering for your sense of humour. I never cater for you in any way. And if I tell a joke it is simply a trick because it is only during the moment when you open your mouth that I can help you swallow something. It is just a device. Your mouth is open and you are unaware. I can throw in something! It really goes in. Your mind is no longer functioning, your thoughts are no longer there. When you laugh, the mind disappears. In laughter, mind cannot exist -- for a moment there is a gap, and I seek that gap. That gap is of tremendous importance because only through that gap can I make a contact with you. The last question:
Beloved Osho, sitting in front of us, what do you see? Do you find all these jokes while looking at us?
Svabhavo, you are right. I have to confess it: looking at you, what else can be found? You are all a joke unto yourself. Gautam Buddha said as his last statement: "Be a light unto yourself." The day I leave the body please remind me, so that I can make my last statement: "Be a joke unto yourself." That is far more joyful than being a light unto yourself. What are you going to do with a light? Light your cigars, or burn people's houses? But being a joke unto yourself, you will be a bliss for everyone. You are right... this is the way I find jokes -- looking at you. So be aware when I look at you; I am searching for a joke! A big old Indian was sitting in a bar out West when a dirty hippy came in and started to drink a lot and…
Beloved Osho, is there a sense of humor beyond the mind? To me meditation has a sense of seriousness in it, and in my experience a sense of humor arises from misunderstandings -- real or imagined -- which have their root in the mind. Is it possible for laughter to arise with no-mind?
I have heard about an American seeker. He was a super-rich man, and having everything, he got fed up. The more you have, the more you become aware that it is not going to satisfy you. The poor man is in a better mental condition, because he can hope that tomorrow he will have a better house, a better job, more salary, a better car. There are millions of hopes around him which will never be fulfilled, and it is good that they will not be fulfilled. The super-rich finds himself in a very strange position: all hopes are fulfilled and his hands are empty, his being is empty; nothing has been found. Life has befooled him. Those hopes have proved to be all mirages. So the man started looking for some wise man who can show him the path to find the real, the ultimate, the absolute truth. And…
Osho, how do you always manage to find the appropriate jokes for your talks?
It is just the other way round. Little Tom and his dad went to the circus. After the show on the way home the father said to little Tom 'Wasn't that clever to time the horses so finely with the music?' 'Yes indeed' answered little Tom, yet not totally convinced. Suddenly a few steps further, little Tom stops and facing his father, said in a sure voice 'What about timing the music with the horses?' It can be the other way round, too. It seems natural for you, as it looked to the father, that 'Wasn't that clever to time the horses so finely with the music?' But to little Tom, the horses are more important than the musicians. Little children live in a different world; their perspective is different. He was not totally convinced of it. He said 'What about timing the music with the horses?' Rather than the…
Beloved master, loving to hear you laugh, loving your jokes, loving you -- beloved master, would you speak to us about laughter?
Anand Svabhavo, when you are hungry you don't want somebody to speak on food! When you are in a river drowning, you don't want somebody else to talk about the art of swimming. There are right moments and right situations, and there are things which can be talked about, yet misunderstood. Laughter is a mystery. It is better to experience it than to hear someone talk about it. But one becomes curious, "What is laughter?" Laughter is the most intelligent factor in you. Buffaloes don't laugh, and if you meet a buffalo laughing you will go mad! Then it will be impossible to bring you to sanity. No animal laughs. Laughter needs a very sensitive intelligence. It means that you can understand the ridiculousness of a certain situation. What are jokes? They are a very clever arrangement. They take you in a direction logically, rationally, you start expecting that now…