Milefo- Chinese GodDeity"The Laughing Buddha"
Also known as: Mile Pusa, Mílè Púsà, Mílèfó, Budai, Bùdài, Qieci, Qìcǐ, 彌勒佛, 彌勒菩薩, 布袋, and 契此
Titles & Epithets
Domains
Symbols
Description
A rotund, laughing monk who carried his possessions in a cloth sack and gave sweets to children. On his deathbed at Yuelin Temple, he declared himself Maitreya's incarnation. This tenth-century Chan eccentric named Budai became the face of the future Buddha in China, his cheerful image replacing the princely Indian Maitreya in temples across East Asia.
Mythology & Lore
Before Budài
Maitreya devotion arrived in China with the earliest Buddhist translations and flourished during the Period of Disunion, when political chaos made the promise of a future savior-Buddha urgent. The monk Daoan (312–385 CE) vowed rebirth in Tuṣita Heaven to await Maitreya's coming, establishing a devotional tradition that for centuries rivaled Amītābha's Pure Land.
This early devotion produced colossal art. At the Yungang caves near Datong, fifth-century carvers cut a princely Maitreya into the cliff face. At Leshan in Sichuan, Tang dynasty workers spent ninety years carving a seated Maitreya that rises seventy-one meters from the riverbank. In all these early images, the future Buddha looks as the Indian texts describe him: dignified, crowned, serene.
The Cloth Sack Monk
Budài was the nickname of Qìcǐ, a Chán monk who lived during the Five Dynasties period in the kingdom of Wuyuè. The Jingde chuandeng lu describes him: bald, enormously fat, perpetually smiling, carrying his possessions in a large cloth sack. He wandered from town to town across the Zhejiang region. He pulled sweets from his sack for children and food for the hungry. He slept wherever he happened to be, even outdoors in snow, reportedly impervious to cold.
Put Down, Pick Up
Budài left no written texts and gave no formal lectures. His life was his teaching.
A monk asked him the essential meaning of Buddhism. Budài flung his cloth sack onto the ground. The monk asked what came next. Budài picked up the sack, slung it over his shoulder, and walked away laughing.
He was also known for weather prophecy: wooden sandals and a hurried pace meant rain was coming. Straw sandals and lounging meant fair skies. Local histories record these observations alongside his spiritual teachings, as though the two were the same thing.
Maitreya, True Maitreya
As he lay dying at Yuelin Temple in Fenghua, Budài recited a verse: "Maitreya, true Maitreya, manifesting in billions of bodies, constantly appearing before people of the age, yet the people of the age do not recognize him."
Chán circles accepted the claim. Within a few generations, Budài's rotund, laughing image had replaced the Indian princely Maitreya in Chinese temples. A statue of the laughing monk now greets visitors in the entrance hall of Buddhist monasteries across China, the first face they see when they walk through the gate.
The Rebellions
The future Buddha carried a political charge that Budài's laughter could not neutralize. The belief that Maitreya would descend to inaugurate a new age was repeatedly seized by rebel leaders.
In 515 CE, a monk named Faqing in Hebei declared himself Maitreya's herald, gathered tens of thousands of followers, and rose against the state. The uprising was suppressed with great violence. Centuries later, the White Lotus movements of the Yuan and Ming dynasties seized the same prophecy. Buddhist eschatology fused with social discontent and fueled some of the largest revolts in Chinese history. Imperial authorities watched Maitreya societies with suspicion long after, even as the laughing figure in the entrance hall remained beloved and doctrinally harmless.