The 'Laughing Buddha' the Buddhist Boddhisattva Mile Pusa (Sanskrit: Maitreya), commonly known as Milofo who is in fact the 'Future Buddha' - the original Shakyamuni Buddha returned after 5000 years to reteach his teachings before Armageddon.
In the non-Mahayana schools of Buddhism, the only Bodhisattvas recognized are the previous incarnations of the Siddhartha Gautama as recorded in the Jataka books of the Khuddaka-Nikaya , and Mile Pusa (Maitreya) , the future Buddha predicted to be born after a lapse of five thousand years. The religious goal of Buddhism was through meditation and correct conduct, to become an arhat, one who has escaped the cycle of rebirths (Rahula 1959). The Mahayana presented a new idea, the Bodhisattva, who out of compassion, achieves enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, as only a Buddha possesses the knowledge and wisdom to help the greatest number of people (Skilton 1994). The Chinese Mahayana tradition, while maintaining the precept of the illusionary nature of all phenomena, has also promoted the concept of accruing merit by both making and worshipping Buddhist images. Over the course of time, Buddhist images have become increasingly Sinicized, so that some bear little or no resemblance to earlier or more realistic images (Kieschnick 2003). Typical second century Mathura depictions of the future Buddha as a slim, simply robed spiritual aspirant have transformed into the jovial, golden, bald headed and extremely fat ‘laughing Buddha’ either sat on a mound of coins or carrying chains of golden coins or yuanbao.
Kieschnick, J. 2003. The impact of Buddhism on Chinese material culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Rahula, R. 1959. What the Buddha taught. Bedford: The Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd.
Skilton, A. 1994. A concise history of Buddhism. Birmingham, UK :Windhorse Publications.
