Page 134 - Popular Deities of Chinese Buddhism (Illustrated) and Symbols

Generally the Chinese worship him for wealth and happiness

and there are those who even believed strongly that he is able to

bequeath them with children as one of his most popular forms

is that with five children surrounding him. However the images

of him that are found in the temples normally depict a fat genial

laughing figure with a mountainous belly, in a sitting posture,

and having a large bag beside him.

Because of this appearance, many people choose to call him ‘e

Laughing Buddha’. Such a depiction by his Chinese devotee is a

far cry from what other Buddhists of other lands imagined him

to be, but this does not mean that the Chinese do not revere

him as much as others do. is portraiture of him came about

as a result of one of his memorable emanations in China during

the end of the Tang period and the beginning of the Wu-Tai

Dynasty (907–1060). ere was a learned monk whom every-

one addressed as Pu Tai, meaning ‘Cloth Bag’, as he was always

seen carrying a large hemp bag wherever he went. He was a na-

tive of the Chekiang Province who went about propagating the

Buddha-dharma. No one really knew his true name although

he had called himself ‘Chi Tze’, and because of his bag, the peo-

ple preferred to refer to him as ‘the monk with the sack’. Here

he appeared as one who is extremely kind, jovial and helpful

and although he had no home or temple which he could call his

own, he is always in a cheerful mood. He wandered about here

and there to beg for food, giving advice and teaching to those

who care to hear him, or he could be seen collecting all kinds

of things which he would put into his bag. To the worldly ones

this act may be reckoned as an act of greed but it really meant

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