Carved Wood Fat Laughing Buddha Budai Hotei Desktop Figurine 4"

Description

Vintage wooden seated, lucky Buddha figurine with his head thrown back in laughter. / Not to be confused with THE Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama, the 6th Century BC ascetic revered by Buddhists for finding enlightenment) the Laughing Buddha was a 10th-century Chinese monk named Budai. According to accounts written centuries later, Budai was a gregarious, pot-bellied monk who wandered from village to village carrying a large sack over his shoulder. (Budai means ""cloth sack"" in Chinese.) He was beloved by children and the poor, to whom he would give rice and sweets from his sack.

On his deathbed, Budai penned a poem in which he revealed himself as the avatar (a human believed to be the incarnation of a diety) of Maitreya, a deity also known as the ""Future Buddha."" Over time, Budai became a subject of popular devotion in Zen Buddhism, both in China and in Japan, where he goes by the name Hotei. His large belly and sack are believed to represent abundance, and he is included among the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan as a harbinger of abundance and good health. At some point, he also became the patron deity of restaurateurs and bartenders, hence his prized location next to the cash register in many Chinese restaurants.

Condition

Very Good – See pictures

Dimensions

4” x 2.75” x 4.25” (Width x Depth x Height)