Once upon a time in ancient China, there lived  three old monks. Their real names were never recorded, not because people forgot them,  but because they never told anyone. To this day, [music] they are simply remembered as the  three laughing monks. These three monks were always together. They walked the dusty roads of  China from village to village, from town to town.

But here is what made them different. They never  [music] preached. They never taught with words.

They never explained philosophy. They did only  one thing. They laughed. Whenever they arrived at a village, they would walk straight to the  main square, stand there quietly for a moment, and then they would begin to [music] laugh.  Not loudly at first, just gentle laughter, warm, [music] natural, contagious. Slowly,  people [music] passing by would stop. Someone would smile. Another would chuckle. Soon, laughter  would [music] spread from one person to another until the entire square was filled with laughing  voices. Farmers, merchants, [music] children, old people, everyone laughed. And when the whole  village was laughing, the three monks would simply move [music] on. Their laughter was their prayer.  Their laughter was their teaching. They never said a single word. All [music] across China, the  three laughing monks became known and loved.

People said they had never seen spiritual [music]  teachers like them before and never again after.

They seemed to carry a simple [music] message.  Life is not a burden. Life is not a punishment.

Life is [music] an opportunity. an opportunity  to laugh as if they had discovered some great cosmic [music] joke. Something so obvious  yet so deeply forgotten by most people. And for many [music] years they traveled like this,  spreading joy wherever they went. Until one day, everything changed. One cold morning [music] in a  small village in the northern province, one of the three monks collapsed and died. The news [music]  spread quickly. Villagers dropped their tools.

Farmers left their fields. People ran from far  [music] away. They expected sorrow. They expected tears. They expected mourning. But what [music]  they saw shocked them. The two remaining monks were laughing. Not softly, not politely. They  were laughing [music] even harder than before.

The crowd was confused. Some were offended, some  were angry. Finally, [music] a few villagers stepped forward and asked, "How can you laugh when  your brother has just died?" For the only time in their lives, the [music] monks answered. One monk  wiped his tears of laughter and said, "Yesterday, on our way to your village, he proposed a bet. A  bet on who among us would die [music] first. and today he won. They laughed [music] again. Then  the monk continued. He even left instructions.

Tradition required the dead body to be washed and  dressed [music] in clean clothes. But the old monk had written, "Do not [music] change my clothes.  I was never dirty for a single day. No filth of this world ever touched me because I laughed  it away." So they honored [music] his wish. The body was placed on the funeral p wearing the same  old clothes. The fire was lit. And as the flames touched the fabric, something incredible happened.  Suddenly, fireworks burst into [music] the sky.

Hundreds of colors exploding in every direction.  The villagers gasped. [music] Then they laughed.

They laughed with tears in their eyes.  [music] They laughed with open hearts.

And in that moment, everyone understood. You  [music] see, maybe the reason we are here on this earth is not just to struggle, not just  to worry, not just [music] to suffer. Maybe we are here to experience joy, to laugh, even in the  face of fear, even in the face of [music] death.

So the next time you face a problem, look in the  [music] mirror, smile, and laugh because your joy is [music] what makes you alive. Thank you for  listening. If this story brought [music] you peace, let it stay with you tonight. This is  Tales of Wisdom. Stay blessed and keep smiling.