Blessed are we who can laugh at ourselves for we shall never cease to be amused.

Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated? David Bader

I’ve recently begun thinking that my next career may be to become a “sit-down” comedian. Whereas stand-up comedy is aimed at being funny and making people laugh, sit-down comedy would be aimed at being funny and helping people to awaken, to free themselves of false views, and to be more appreciative and alive. The main thrust of sit-down comedy would be allowing people to see that what we think of as a solid, substantial self, with all its associated problems and concerns, is a fiction. Once we realize this we have just enough distance from our thoughts, assumptions, and problems that we can laugh at ourselves. Since we are all born and we will all die, what isn’t funny? Sit-down comedy would, of course, be performed sitting down.

Humor in Zen? Humor at work? Maybe you are shaking your head in disbelief. I’m not talking about Zen jokes. I think there are only two, which you probably know: What did the Zen student say to the hot dog vendor? Make me one with everything. Why can’t Zen students vacuum under furniture? No attachments.

Zen doesn’t need jokes to be funny. The joke is that everything is the joke. Some people might think that Zen does not have much of a developed written or oral tradition when it comes to humor, but actually when you look closely, Zen is filled with playfulness and trickery. There is a famous Zen story in the form of a question and answer: The student asks, “What is Buddha?” The teacher answers, “The oak tree in the courtyard.” This is pretty funny stuff! I began a recent lecture at the San Francisco Zen Center with a joke: What’s the difference between stand-up comedy and a Zen lecture? Stand-up comedy isn’t always funny.

After one of my recent lectures in San Francisco, a man asked me why Zen lectures tend to be humorous. I answered that once you have been sitting meditation, facing a wall, morning after morning, year after year, everything begins to appear funny. Zen teaching starts from the premise that there is no avoiding suffering and that thinking that a self exists, separate from others, is the basic cause of all pain and suffering — again, pretty funny stuff!

From the perspective of Zen practice, everything in business, everything at work, is funny. Human beings are strange, unexplainable, hilarious creatures. Just notice how people look, what they say, what their intentions are. Notices the gaps; notice that interactions and feelings are unpredictable and messy. We are all beginners, all amateurs at being human, at interacting with others.

Work is a great playground, a grand theater for humans to express themselves and to interact with each other and with the material world and spiritual world. Misunderstandings, unsolvable problems, emotional outbursts, broken plans and impossible strategies, posturing, endless meetings, unexpected successes, terrible failures — all funny. People fall in love at work, or they learn to hate each other. People discover hidden talents or hidden anger, rise to meet new challenges, or discover blind spots that had not been fully disclosed.

Having a sense of humor may be one of the most important requirements for integrating Zen practice and work practice. The real aim of Zen practice is to be happy and to make others happy. The real purpose of business is to be happy and to make others happy.

Pay attention to the humorous aspects of your work environment.
Take the time to see what is funny at work. Let yourself smile or laugh. You can always cry later.

What situations at work make you laugh, in a positive way?