We've all seen him. The bald jolly fellow sitting and laughing at you.
I went to his wikipedia page and found this:
Budai (Chinese: 布袋; pinyin: Bùdài; Japanese: 布袋, romanized: Hotei) is a semi-historical Chinese monk who is venerated as Maitreya Buddha in Chan Buddhism. He was also introduced into the Japanese Buddhist pantheon.[1] He allegedly lived around the 10th century in the Wuyue kingdom. His name literally means "cloth sack",[1] and refers to the bag that he is conventionally depicted as carrying as he wanders aimlessly. His jolly nature, humorous personality, and eccentric) lifestyle distinguish him from most Buddhist masters or figures. He is almost always shown smiling or laughing, hence his nickname in Chinese, the "Laughing Buddha".[a][2][3] As he is traditionally depicted as fat, he is also referred to as the "Fat Buddha", especially in the Western world.[4]
The main textual evidence pointing to Budai resides in a collection of Zen Buddhist monks' biographies known as The Transmission of the Lamp.
Needless to say, I'm very intrigued. Have any of the texts about him been translated?
Submitted July 13, 2020 at 04:28PM by SpringRainPeace https://ift.tt/2Zp1eLm
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