Budai The fat Buddha statue

Budai — known in the West as the "Laughing Buddha" or "Fat Buddha" — is the 10th-century Chinese folk monk Qieci, popularly identified with the future Buddha Maitreya. His enormous belly is said to contain the abundance of the universe, and rubbing it is believed to bring good fortune. Though not a Buddha in the strict scriptural sense, he became one of the most beloved devotional figures of East Asian Buddhism and travelled westward as a universal symbol of contentment and prosperity.