Many years ago, a man who lived in a nearby town was an Arms Dealer by profession. He was a coarse, hard, cold man; someone who supplied weapons, guns and ammunition that killed people. This man rarely smiled and never laughed. In social circles he would say that he was in the ‘Security’ business, but everyone knew what his real job was.
To conduct his business, this man would fly to the farthest and most wretched places in the world. On long distance, lonesome flights, he would contemplate his actions and even suffer regret, but he could not think of an alternative career for himself.
On one such long flight, the man noticed that he was the only passenger onboard. That did not surprise him. Very few men voluntarily travelled to places of war, conflict and strife. When the man entered the airplane, he was greeted by just one air hostess, who seemed to be the only airline staff onboard.
After the flight had taken off, the man was surprised to see a handsome, fair, male flight attendant with flowing black hair walking down the cabin aisle. It occurred to the man that male flight attendants were not supposed to have long flowing hair, but he just assumed that this airline allowed it.
A few minutes later, the man was shocked to notice that this male flight attendant was going up to every empty seat in the plane and buckling it up! The man scowled and mockingly told the flight attendant, “Hey, my friend! Why on earth are you buckling up empty seats?”
The flight attendant looked into the man’s eyes and calmly said, “To keep the airplane safe. Someone has to buckle up the airplane to keep it safe, right?”
The man burst out laughing. This was the first time he had laughed in years and he could just not stop laughing. The ‘stupidity’ of the flight attendant just tickled him so much, that he spent the rest of the flight chuckling, grinning and smiling to himself.
Once the flight had landed and the man was exiting the airplane, he asked the air hostess, “Where is the man who was in the cabin with you? I want to say goodbye to him!”
The air hostess said, “Sir, there was no man in the flight other than yourself. It was just the two of us in the cabin, all these hours.”
The man was stunned and immediately realized that he had seen divinity. He also began to laugh at this instance and from that day onwards, a constant, intermittent laughter became his habit.
When the man returned to town, he travelled to the Monastery and related his story to Sensei. He laughed while he related his tale.
Sensei clapped twice and said, “You saw Buddha. Buddha was protecting a non living airplane for your sake, while you were flying around, supplying weapons to kill people. By appearing especially for you, Buddha has blessed you. You are free to stay in the Monastery, redeem yourself and be called ‘Laughing Monk’, if you so wish…”
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