Draft:Humor and religion

Humor and religion concerns how humor is dealt with in religious practice, texts and philosophy, as well as the interaction between humorous material and religion.

Overview
Humor and religion can both be seen as universals of human society, and parts of the human condition. A common traditional view is that religion is serious and humor is non-serious, but some modern scholars take a more nuanced approach.

Both terms are hard to define. Humor and religion are often seen as something good, that can strengthen a sense of community. Conversely, they can also serve to underscore the difference between groups, for example through mock and ridicule. Also it can

Trickster god
Loki in Norse mythology, a cunning trickster who had the ability to change his shape and sex.

Humor and Buddhism
At first sight the Buddhist texts can appear humorless, but the humor is often deadpan and subtle. Furthermore, translators often miss the fact that a passage is intended to be humorous, and render it in a flat, pedantic style. The humor in the scriptures often employs irony and satire, for example poking fun at things that people take too seriously, thereby encouraging them to cultivate a healthy detachment. The humor can range from the gentle to the very sharp. Even the Buddha can be quite sharp, for example by comparing brahmins with dogs.

The Buddha didn't encourage laughter among his followers, probably because most of the humor of that time was rather coarse with a lot of sexual innuendo. Also much of the humour then, as now, poked fun at people, and thus contained an element of cruelty. Nonetheless, the Buddha seems to have approved of humour that would amuse his followers or lighten the mood, because the Tipitaka contains many examples. The texts are also rich in puns that are often lost in translation. For example, brahmins were often known as 'reciters' (ajjhāyaka) because they chanted the Vedas. The Buddha joked that they were really called this because they couldn't meditate (ajhāyaka).

Throughout the scriptures the Buddha made use of similes, juxtaposing two connected but incongruous things. Having good intentions but using an inappropriate approach, he said, will no more lead to nirvana than pulling a cow's horn will give milk. Similarly a fool does not benefit from his association with a wise person any more than a spoon tastes the soup. The Buddha also used parody. When an arrogant young brahmin pointed out that brahmins are superior to other castes because they are born from the mouth of Brahma, as stated in the Vedas, the Buddha blandly pointed out that brahmins are born from their mothers' wombs just like everyone else. He also ridicules the idea of a supreme god apparently having human emotions, desires and weaknesses in a way that might still amuse a modern reader familiar with the Old Testament.

On another occasion a brahmin approaches the Buddha and abuses him and his teaching. The Buddha quietly waits until the brahmin is finished. Then he says: "If you want to give someone a gift, and the other person politely declines, who is then the owner of the gift?" "Then it is mine. I'll keep it." "That's right. And I decline your abuse. I do not care to receive this gift. So who now is the owner of it?"

The subtlety of the Buddha's humor is perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in the Patika Sutta. The ascetic Patikaputta tells the Buddha's followers that if the Buddha will come half way to his lodging, he will come to meet him and perform double the number of miracles that the Buddha can perform. On hearing this the Buddha dismisses such a thing as impossible and says he is going off for his afternoon rest to Patikaputta's Park. The Buddha's followers go to Patikaputta to tell him the Buddha has come half way to meet him but Patikaputta is unable to rise from his seat no matter how much he wriggles. The monks tease him saying "Is your bottom glued to the seat?"

Apart from the utterances of the Buddha himself, the antics of the mischievous group of six monks are catalogued throughout the Vinaya Pitaka, which details the many rules that had to be formulated by the Buddha to thwart their various efforts to escape their ethical obligations. The texts find them trying to get away with wearing multi-coloured sandals, devising ever more luxurious beds, and causing a group of senior monks to faint by overheating the sauna and then blocking the exit.