Fat Buddha in Singapore

After the fasting Buddha from the Lahore Museum in Pakistan it is worthwhile to show the complete opposite in terms of weight and perception of life. This picture was taken yesterday in Singapore and shows the Maitreya Buddha (or Milefo (彌勒佛). Buddhists believe that a Buddha appears from time to time to maintain knowledge of the true path and the Maitreya Bodhisattva is the future Buddha and is understood to be the ‘kindly one’ or here ‘the laughing one’. The pictured Milefo probably found its origin due to a Chinese monk named Hotei who is regarded as an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Maitreya. Hotei or Budai Luohan (布袋羅漢) walked on earth around 900AD and already resembled the future.

Now we know that there is a bright future in sight. Touch the big one as these Chinese fellows do and you will become lucky, laughing and fat.