The laughing Buddha

Today we are not looking at the hard-hitting questions or the complex ideas of Buddhism, but we are looking at a common mistake that I used to fall victim to. Below I will pop two pictures. Who's Gautama Buddha have a guess?

If you said the first one you are wrong, He is not the historical Buddha and may I just say I thought it was the first one to. Every time someone used to mention Buddhism to me, in the past, I would picture the fat man that homer pretended to be in an episode of the Simpsons that time. You know the episode i'm talking about the one where he sits still and is painted in gold and I think someone was adopting a baby.

For such a heart hitting topic like this there isn't too much information going around so this one get straight to the point  and is over quickly.

Who was the laughing Buddha?

The laughing Buddhas origins lay in stories of a Chan monk named Ch'i-t'zu who lived over a 1000 years ago. He was believed to be a future Buddha(enlightened one) because of his kindness and generosity. He lives in restaurants, homes, outside temples and many other places, some believe if you rub his belly you will get good luck.

Because of his age not much is known nor may be factually correct, but he is believed to have lived in the 10th century Wuyue kingdom. He was a humourous and eccentric, being far from what you would expect of a zen monk.

His tales spread through china and he came known as Pu-tai/Budai, which literally means heapen sack. He coined the name from carrying a sack of good things such as sweets for children, which he is depicted with a lot. He was generous, happy and a protector of children.

The laughing Buddha is accepted in to Buddhist practice with a lot of enthusiasm as anyone who represents Buddha nature is encouraged.

Pu-tai has spread throughout Asia and in Japan has become one of the seven lucky gods of Shinto (a polytheistic belief system involving the veneration of many deities).

Why is he mistaken?

The reason I think people have this misconception in the west is surely because of looks and lack of knowledge. The fat jolly man has more going for him than the skinny man in meditation. He is more eye catching, and that's why people have statues of him and that is why the misconception continues.

Buddhism accounts for 1% of religion in the USA and 0.2% in Europe. I was never taught about Buddhism in school and not a lot of you probably were and that is why this misconception lives on.

That is pretty much it about the laughing Buddha. He is well seen but even more well unknown and to be honest it's interesting to learn about him . I like the little fat jolly man and can see why others like him to.