Hotei

views updated

Hotei (Chin., Pu-tai, ‘cloth-bag’). A popular figure in the Ch'an or Zen Buddhist iconography of China and Japan, as well as a popular deity in Chinese and Japanese folk religion. He is the Zen (and perhaps Taoist) eccentric, wandering sage who bestows his spiritual goods on all he comes in contact with.

In Far Eastern folk religion he becomes associated with indigenous deities of happiness and good luck, all symbolized by obesity and a large (cloth) sack on his back.

More From encyclopedia.com