Did Buddha tell jokes ?

I cant speak for others, but I find that, seriousness can occur way to often. With that in mind I post this thread as a riposte.

Take your work seriously, but never yourself. (Margot Fonteyn).

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Three Buddhist monks decided to practise meditation together. They sat by the side of a lake and closed their eyes in concentration. Then suddenly, the first one stood up and said, “I forgot my mat.” He steeped miraculously onto the water in front of him and walked across the lake to their hut on the other side.

When he returned, the second monk stood up and said, “I forgot to put my underwear out to dry.” He too walked calmly across the water and returned the same way.

The third monk watched the first two carefully in what he decided must be the test of his own abilities. “Is your learning so superior to mine? I too can match any feat you two can perform,” he declared loudly and rushed to the water’s edge to walk across it. He promptly fell into the deep water.

Undeterred, the monk climbed out of the water and tried again, only to sink into the water. Yet again he climbed out and yet again he tried, each time sinking into the water. This went on for some time as the other two monks watched.

After a while, the second monk turned to the first and said, “Do you think we should tell him where the stones are?”

Haha awesome! Here are a few I like:

Why are there no good Buddhist blues guitarists?
They have no soul.

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How many Madhayamka scholars does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Four:
One to scew it in.
One to not screw it in.
One to both screw it in and not screw it in.
One to neither screw it in nor not screw it in.

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Why did the Buddhist coroner get the sack?
Answer:: because he’d always record the cause of death as 'birth'.

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The day after completing a 9 day Vipassana retreat, Dave turns up for work at the Zoo. Seeing how chilled out Dave is, the head keeper puts him in charge of the tortoise enclosure. Dave slowly walks over to the cages. At lunch time, the head keeper checks on Dave only to see the cage door is wide open and all the tortoises gone! He runs up to Dave and asks, “What happened with the tortoises?”
“Well”, said Dave very slowly, “I opened the tortoise cage door and it was, like, Whoosh!”

Part 1 of a two-part joke:

A Buddhist monk walks up to a hot dog vendor, and says, "Make me one with everything..."



Part 2 of a two-part joke:

The hot dog vendor passes him a hot dog.
The monk pays with a $20 bill, and waits for his change.
The monk continues to wait...and wait...
Finally the monk says, "What about my change?"
The vendor replies, "Change comes from within..."

Humour is one the big things I look for in a teacher/author. To me it represents the most reliable indicator of spiritual advancement. The humour must be spontaneous and have a certain style - innocent, effortless, light-hearted, and above all, it makes you roll around in hysterics. If you disect the material of a good comedian, there's rarely much in it. The delivery is the key, and of course this is where the person's spirit thines through. No spirit, no laughs. If a teacher lacks this style of humour I must admit I usually don't pay much attention to his teachings. It's never forced, never pre-conceived, it just pops out when it wants to, just like when a child does something funny/silly.