Is the Laughing Buddha the real Buddha?

No. He is Budai, a Chinese Chan monk who died in 916 CE, understood in Chan tradition as an incarnation of Maitreya, the Buddha who is to come. The historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, is depicted as a slim ascetic and is a different figure entirely.

Why do people rub the Laughing Buddha's belly?

It is a folk and shop custom with no Buddhist scriptural or monastic basis, comparable to touching a statue's foot for luck in a European church. It is widespread, harmless and entirely outside the tradition proper.

His possessions and gifts for children, which is the literal answer and the origin of his name, Budai meaning cloth sack. In the devotional reading he is also carrying the sorrows of the world so that others do not have to.

What do the different poses mean?

The commonly sold readings are: seated on coins for wealth, holding an ingot for prosperity, with children for family, holding a fan for sweeping away troubles, arms raised for happiness. These are commercial assignments and sellers do not agree on them.

Where should a Budai statue be placed?

Facing the door, above floor level, not in a bathroom or on the ground. Directional rules beyond that belong to feng shui rather than to Buddhism and are covered in the Feng Shui section of this library.

Talismans · Luck and welcome

Budai

Also called: Laughing Buddha, Hotei, Pu-Tai, Cloth Sack Monk

A tenth-century wandering monk with a sack, mistaken worldwide for the Buddha himself.

At a glance

Who: Qici, a Chan monk of Zhejiang, d. 916 CE
Chinese name: Budai, cloth sack
Japanese name: Hotei
Identified as: An incarnation of Maitreya, the future Buddha
Carries: A cloth sack, sometimes a gourd, beads or a fan
Not: Siddhartha Gautama

Who he was

A Chan Buddhist monk named Qici, who lived in Zhejiang province and died in 916 CE. He wandered, he carried a large cloth sack containing everything he owned and gifts for children, he slept where he happened to be, and he was fat, cheerful and disinclined to behave like a dignitary.

His nickname, Budai, simply means cloth sack. In Japan the same name is read Hotei. He is a historical person, not a mythological one, and the sources for him are Chan biographical collections rather than scripture.

How he became a Buddha

Chan tradition holds that Budai was an incarnation of Maitreya, the Buddha who is to come. A verse attributed to him on his deathbed is taken as the disclosure of this, and from then on he is depicted in Chinese temples as Maitreya, frequently in the first hall a visitor enters.

That is the crucial point everyone misses. The fat laughing figure is not Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, who is depicted as a slim ascetic. He is a different figure entirely: a Chinese monk understood as the future Buddha in advance of his time. The English name Laughing Buddha collapses that distinction and is the source of nearly every misunderstanding about him.

In Japan he was folded into the Seven Lucky Gods, the Shichifukujin, where Hotei is the god of abundance and good health, and it is largely through that association that he became a luck figure rather than a religious one.

The sack, the belly and the rubbing

The sack is the emblem. It holds his possessions, gifts for children, and in the devotional reading the sorrows of the world, which he carries so others do not have to. The gourd, the fan and the string of beads appear in various depictions and carry their own minor meanings.

The belly-rubbing custom is a shop and household practice rather than a Buddhist one, and there is no scriptural or monastic basis for it. It is real, widespread and harmless, and it belongs in the same category as touching a statue's foot for luck in a European cathedral: a folk gesture that grows up around a figure people are fond of.

The statues themselves come in a standardised set of poses, each sold with a meaning: seated on a bed of coins for wealth, holding a gold ingot for prosperity, with children climbing on him for family, holding a fan for the sweeping away of troubles, standing with arms raised for happiness. These readings are commercial and are not consistent between sellers.

Buying and placing one

There is no restriction on owning a Budai figure, and they are sold in temples as well as in shops throughout East Asia. He is genuinely a devotional figure in Chinese Buddhism, though, which is worth remembering when he turns up as a novelty ornament.

The practical conventions are the ones shops keep: place him facing the door, above floor level, and not in a bathroom or on the ground. Feng shui practice adds a set of directional rules, which belong to that system rather than to Buddhism and are covered in the Feng Shui section of this library.

How Budai is displayed

The customs are folk and commercial rather than monastic.

Place the figure facing the entrance, so he greets whoever comes in.
Keep him above floor level, on a shelf, table or counter, and out of bathrooms.
Choose the pose for what you want, if you follow the commercial readings: coins for wealth, children for family, fan for clearing troubles.
Rub the belly if you like. It is a folk gesture with no Buddhist basis and no rule against it.
Do not treat a temple-consecrated figure as an ornament. Those are devotional objects and are handled accordingly.

The most useful thing you can know about this statue is that it is not the Buddha. Saying so is not pedantry; it changes what the figure means and who it belongs to.

What Budai belongs with

The commercial charms he stands beside.

Questions for reflection

The world has spent a century calling a Chinese monk the Buddha. What else have you inherited a wrong name for?
He is said to carry other people's sorrows in the sack. Would you want a charm that takes on weight rather than deflecting it?
Rubbing the belly has no basis in the tradition and everyone does it. Where do gestures like that come from?

Frequently asked questions

: No. He is Budai, a Chinese Chan monk who died in 916 CE, understood in Chan tradition as an incarnation of Maitreya, the Buddha who is to come. The historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, is depicted as a slim ascetic and is a different figure entirely.
: It is a folk and shop custom with no Buddhist scriptural or monastic basis, comparable to touching a statue's foot for luck in a European church. It is widespread, harmless and entirely outside the tradition proper.
: His possessions and gifts for children, which is the literal answer and the origin of his name, Budai meaning cloth sack. In the devotional reading he is also carrying the sorrows of the world so that others do not have to.
: The commonly sold readings are: seated on coins for wealth, holding an ingot for prosperity, with children for family, holding a fan for sweeping away troubles, arms raised for happiness. These are commercial assignments and sellers do not agree on them.
: Facing the door, above floor level, not in a bathroom or on the ground. Directional rules beyond that belong to feng shui rather than to Buddhism and are covered in the Feng Shui section of this library.

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