Wherever you go to a Buddhist
temple in China, you’ll see a short fat
bald guy with mouth wide open happily
laughing. Sometimes he stands by the gate to
be the first to greet you while laughing,
other times he makes life easier for himself
by sitting down in the doorway without
crossing his legs, and laughing. His round
belly is forever uncovered, but the hidden
treasure in his lager bag is never exposed.
Laughing Buddha Qizi
Yes, he is one of the most
beloved Bodhisattvas in China, known as Bag
Monk (布袋和尚), also known as
Laughing Buddha, a symbol of contentment and
resourcefulness.
About a thousand years ago,
there was an itinerant Buddhist monk named
Qici (契此) wandering around in
the area of Zhejiang Province, in China’s
east coast where beautiful lake city
Huangzhou is situated. He forever carried a
cotton back over his shoulder containing
inexhaustible supply of candy and toys for
kids (Santa Clause of East?), and whenever he
spotted a grain of rice he would bend over to
pick it up and put into his bag, for which he
was nicknamed Bag Monk (布袋和尚).
Bag Monk wasn’t a handsome
guy; he was vertically challenged and
horizontally advanced with a well-developed
belly. His physical weakness was, however,
well balanced by his spiritual strength. He
loved to laugh, and laughed whole heartedly,
which is adorable; he also liked to talk, and
talked like comedian, yet behind the cracks
and jokes there were prophetic messages,
which is more than adorable but venerable.
Then one day in 917, he pulled a straight
face as he sat straight on a round stone and
imparted his last oracular commentary:
弥勒真弥勒，
分身千百亿。
时时示世人，
世人皆不识。
One Maitreya
Buddhi,
Billions of embodiments,
Living among ya’ll,
Ya dunno who he is.
With that he passed away
straightaway.
His finial theatrical act
somehow convinced the people that he was in
fact the earthly embodiment of Buddhisattaba
Maitreya.
Mr. Maitreya is believed to be
a future Buddha, the first one to attain the
perfect enlightenment on earth after
historical Shakyamuni. At present he has
reportedly rented a garden property in the
forth Desire Heaven Tushita (兜率天) where he has set up a
non-profit boarding school called Pure Land.
With the help of numerous volunteers, he
tutors the ascended souls on Dharma theories
and practices. Among the list of honourable
guest speakers, there are earsplittingly
well-known names like Shakyamuni and Guanyin.
While he’s busily managing
his day to day administration and teaching
work, he also travels around to promote his
school. Among his countless visits here on
earth, once he assumed, as it is said, a
mortal appearance of Bag Monk.
In fact, Pure Land is not the
only Dharma school accepting enrolment
applications on earth. There are other major
Buddhist educational institutions opening to
earth-bound students, notebly Chan (Zen)
School. Around the universe, the Dharma
campuses offering enlightenment courses are
allegedly as many as the sands on a beach.
But Pure Land is one of those located
reasonably near, just four celestial floors
above us, and it has relatively low entry
requirements.
According to the school
program schedule recorded on various sutras,
eventually the time will come for Mr Maitreya
to open a temporary workshop on earth, in
which he is to personally demonstrate the
actual process of enlightenment right from
rebirth, awakening to nirvana. Then he will
hand his school post to Guanyin and go beyond
the universe with all those graduates.
Pure Land was one of the most
popular destinations for the Buddhist
followers, particularly in China and other
northeast and southeast countries. And its
popularity has enjoyed a big boost from Monk
Qici’s bag and laugher.
Since Qizi’s death (or
nirvana), Maitreya’s statue has been
modelled according to his image which is now
praised as being vertically approachable,
horizontally expansible with a resourceful
belly. His trademark grin makes him the best
customer service personnel in China, and for
this he is not only offered positions as
receptionist in most Buddhist temples but
also invited to restaurants and stores to
greet costumiers.
Below are some couplets at
Chinese temples that reflect the spirit of
the Laughing Buddha:
A couplet at
Tanzhe Temple (潭柘寺) in
Beijing:
大肚能容，容天下难容之事,
笑口常开，笑天下可笑之人。
The belly is big, big enough
to put up with anything;
The laugh is amusing, amusing
enough to make everyone musing.
A couplet at
Spirit Rock Temple (灵岩寺) in Mt
Emei (峨嵋山),
Sichuan:
开口便笑，笑古笑今，凡事付之一笑；
大肚能容，容天容地，与己何所不容。
Open my mouth to laugh at the
past, the present and the self;
Broaden my belly to take in
the sky, the earth and the others.
A couplet at
Thousand Buddha Zen House (千佛禅院) in
Hangzhou:
终日解其颐，笑世事纷纭，会无了局；
经年袒乃腹，看胸怀洒落，却是上乘。
Forever keep my grin,
Observing from sideways makes me wise;
Never cover my tummy,
Hiding nothing from others sends me free.
A couplet at a
temple in Suzhou:
大肚能容，了却人间多少事；
满腹欢喜，笑开天下古今愁。
Puff up a big tummy to
accommodate everything, then no conflict can’t
be resolved;
Put on a cheerful face to
approach everyone, then no misery can’t be
dispelled.
A couplet at Happy
Cloud Tmeple (凌云寺) in Mt
Happy (乐山),
Sichuan:
笑古笑今，笑东笑西，笑南笑北，笑进笑出，笑自己原无知无识；
观事观物，观天观地，观日观月，观来观去，观他人总有高有低。
Laugh at the past, at the
preset; about the east, about the west; to
the south, to the north. Laugh when I arrive,
when I depart, at myself, hance I realise I
am so ignorant;
Observe the events, the
objects; observe the heaven, the earth;
observe the moonlight, the sunbeams. Observe
what comes, what goes, about others, thus I
discover nobody is perfect.
A couplet at
Thousand Buddha Temple (千佛寺) in
Jinan, Shandong:
笑到几时方合口；
坐来无日不开怀。
Laugh, with open mouth, until
eternity;
Sit, with exposed tummy, at total ease.
A couplet at Arhat
Temple (罗汉寺弥勒) in
Henyang, Hunan:
大肚能容，问人间恩怨亲仇，个中藏有几许；
开口便笑，笑世上悲欢离合，此处已无些须。
The belly is broad enough to
melt any bitterness;
The laugh is gaily enough to dissolve all
sadness.
A
couplet at a temple in Taiwan:
大肚皮，千人共见，何所有，何所不有；
开口笑，几时休息，无一言，无一不言。
The huge tummy, that is
forever bare, yet not a thing to be seen,
though nothing is hidden from the scene;
The big laugh, that never to
halt, though not a word to be said, yet
everything has been expressed.
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