Yes, I bet you’ve seen this Zen Buddhist monk in a lot of Asian restaurants. Some call him the “laughing Buddha.” His Buddhist name is Pu-tai or in pinyin Chinese, “Budai.” His name means “cloth sack”. He is said to have lived in the 10th century. Very much of an eccentric Zennist, he wandered from town to town with his sack carried on a stick slung over his back, being almost like a Chinese Santa Claus. He was always giving sweets to children. Supposedly, his real identity was Maitreya, the future Buddha. He is depicted in the last of the Ten Oxherding Pictures.
Once Pu-tai walked up to an Buddhist priest and said "Give me some money.” The Buddhist priest said, "I will but first tell me a word of Truth, then I will give you money." Promptly, Pu-tai put his bag on the ground and folded his hands. Another time, Pu-tai was standing in the street, when a Buddhist priest asked him, "What are you doing here?" Pu-tai responded, "I am waiting for him." The Buddhist priest then said,"He has arrived." Then Pu-tai said, "You are not him." The Buddhist priest then asked, "What distinguishes this person?" Pu-tai said, "He will give me money."
Quite profound, Pu-tai also wrote this song.
Only the three minds (past, present and future) are the Buddha. In the ten directions (N., S., E., W., N. E., S. E., N. W., S. W., and zenith and nadir) of the world, (the mind) is the most intelligent, the most spiritual thing.
In all things, it has a wonderful use. It is a pity that beings (do not understand). There is nothing so real as the mind.
In continual movement, it is self-existent, and there is nothing which it is not. To those who have left their homes, with no business to pursue, it is an endless source of study.
If one has before one's eyes, the True Great Way, one sees not even a hair (because !all is empty)-strange!
The manifold methods of the Law, how do they differ? Mind is every-where the same. (When one understands this) what necessity is there to exert one's self to search the sutras's meaning?
When the king of the mind (i.e., the Self) naturally cuts off (attachment), then all is harmony. The wise who understand this, need not to study.
There are in reality no common herd and no sages; what then is there? It is not necessary to distinguish from others the sage who has no need outside himself.
Without price is the pearl of the mind; by its own nature, round and pure. Ordinary people are different; have they not misunderstood the emptiness of things?
Men can indefinitely enlarge the principles they follow, and thus comprehend the ever-extending nature of the Way. To become ever more pure and noble, this is to be in harmony with the nature of the Way.
One takes one's staff and climbs the old road to the place of one's origin, without the slightest rancor against those who do not listen to the Sound” (Helen B. Chapin, “The Ch'an Master Pu-tai”, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Mar., 1933), pp. 47-52).
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