Renzhong Dai

Maitreya’s Sack

Cloth sack of the Laughing Buddha that scoops up heaven’s own armies.

The sack of the future Buddha Maitreya is the treasure the Yellow-Brow demon steals when he impersonates the Tathagata at the Little Thunder Monastery. Opened, it gathers heaven’s armies, gods and pilgrims like grain; closed, it holds them all in darkness. Only Maitreya himself can open it, laughing, and take back both the sack and his runaway servant.