Maitreya

The Laughing Buddha

Future Buddha shown as the jolly bag-carrying monk of Chinese temples.

Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, is awaited as the successor to Shakyamuni who will descend when the world is ready. In China he appears chiefly as the laughing monk Budai, a wandering Chan figure with a cloth sack who became the model of the fat, joyful Buddha of the temple door. His open belly and endless smile promise that enlightenment — and contentment — are still to come.