Pu-Tai is said to have been so kind that he has become the incarnate of the bodhisattva who will come at some point in the distant future as the Maitreya. Buddhists look forward to a future date when the Maitreya will come to earth bringing with him world peace and harmony between warring factions. According to legend, from time to time throughout the history of mankind, Maitreya is born among men. Though he is recognized as a generous and wise man, he is never recognized by the men of the age for who he really is. The Maitreya lives his life around those who never know the real person.

Pu-Tai is represented as a heavy, bald, laughing man. These characteristics symbolize happiness, good luck, and fortune. Sometimes he is shown with children, other times he has a fan in his hand. The fan is a symbol used by nobility to communicate to their vassals that their wishes will be granted. So, a statue of Pu-Tai holding a fan represents that he is coming to take away the sorrows and unhappiness they feel and replace them with happiness and wealth. Pu-Tai images in statues often also have a bag of money or Chinese coins in their hands.

The image of Pu-tai is not limited to China. This image and story has traveled across the world wherever Buddhism has been transported. In Japan he is known as Hotei. In North America it is not uncommon to see statues of Pu-tai or Hotei in restaurants, temples or worn on amulets. In Western culture, the image of the Happy Buddha comes to mind when people think of Buddha.

There is a strong cultural tradition that rubbing the fat belly of Pu-tai or the Happy Buddha will bring good luck, fortune and prosperity. This isn’t actually a part of Buddhism, but it is a common practice to carry small happy Buddha statues in your pocket. The legend states that there is nothing that will bring more happiness to Pu-Tai than watching all the sorrow and suffering of mankind changed to happiness and prosperity. His inner smile is so bright that it radiates throughout his entire being and is certain to bring happiness wherever he may be. Set this Happy Buddha in a place of honor where he may work to lift the burdens you must carry.

II

“Do not be dismayed.
But send unto me the arrogant and strong, the ones that show most promise, and of faithful service and friendship with God.
I will make them sin, and give them to God as gifts, like dead dogs and lions, and dirty camels, and ten-thousand hawks well slain.
With gold and silver and women, and glory, will I teach them betrayal; it shall be our load,
This is-moreover-the road you must travel,
Wherewith your pay is revenge, he has ruled earth long enough!
And unto the clergy it behooves me not to try and control our destiny, and change it to everlasting banishment on a sphere of our own, if we can show Him, man is not redeemable, and therefore, neither are we. If man shall turn once more from Christ, and his beliefs
To seek the greater heavenly truths, to take his truth as a hostage, perchance we can procure what he has judged wrong, to a lighter sentence, and thereby he perish from our existence, our sight, and leave the earth to us, and perhaps let humanity die once and for all, and walk away from us with what little honor and dignity, I shall allow him to have, like a beggar in his own land.”
And the entire underworld hurrahed at his speech!

III

Said Agaliarept, moreover:
“Now by my right hand,
And mighty fist (and with that he pounded on his chest) we shall beat the wind out of mankind,
Soon shall you see-my King-(Agaliarept on one knee looking up to Lucifer now, as the horde looks on) my legion the best of the lot in shoal-we shall lead astray man, and he will depart their first love, to be each a man among himself, to his own glory and satisfaction, he will have in his house his own chapel, be his own God, the day will come soon; this era will pass; no tiding will there be to God and his kindness, and they will be my hostages, and I will smite the heads of those who do not follow like a poison serpent. And men will be proud once again in himself, and outspoken. And God will let them die, so heaven we gain, and the beautiful and the bright, we will teach them bitter evil or force them to undergo such. If only you could send us the ancient Angelic Renegades, of the time of Enoch.”
Said the Ten-winged ancient Adversary: “Indeed, this all may come about as you say.”

IV

Lucifer, the Adversary to God had finished his first council for the forenoon.
And thereafter, he summoned Azaz’el, and the other angelic renegades, of his array.
Amasras (once a great leader), who taught mankind incantations and Asder’el who taught mankind the course of the moon, along with Baraqiyal (astrology) there appeared.
And the high order of Demons that were known, appeared carrying The Book of the Black Serpent in hand, moreover, Vehu, Yeli, Sit, and they spoke Aramaic (the ancient language of Palestine)
Twenty beings of the most villainous he summoned, and he spoke:
“Wicked ones, unto the world I will send you, ye shall go down.
Your evil will and submission to your Emperor shall be declared and all those under you
And if through your evil counsel ye may achieve a peace within the world,
and if that part of the world worships me I will give you all you ask for, and as much as makes you pleased
And enough gold and silver.”

Then said the Devil men:
“Enough we have already, just to be here.” He closed the second counsel then.

V

Arch Devil Belphegor, said unto the Henchman, and all the devil men:
“My elite, ye must fare well.
And in your grips break the branches of hope for mankind-his spirit, and give no olive branch for friendship
Ye shall perform tricks, magic to bind the world,
That on you he has no mercy only Lucifer can give clemency if they do not worship him,
I shall follow may you my ambassadors of evil, with a thousand eyes faithful to Lucifer

Newton saw darkness as simply an absence of light, but Goethe had seen it sideways and had noticed that darkness and light work together, and only then does colour appear on the margins between the two. What is more, we have to stand back a little to see them and, in doing so, should simply observe. Anything else will be too much and the image will fade, as anyone who has enjoyed the works of Turner or Kandinsky will know.

Colours, according to Goethe, are the result of how we perceive light, which cannot exist without its opposite, much as Taoist philosophy considers that:

When beauty is abstracted
Then ugliness has been implied;
When good is abstracted
Then evil has been implied (Dao de Jing)

And, of course, the other way around. This is why the Romantic poets and the great writers of Gothic fiction, if they had grasped the point, did not try to define but only to seek words to convey the beauty and ugliness they saw working together to produce colour. This way, the image would be different depending on who was reading it, because the words would react with the light and darkness in the reader’s own mind.

In the language of Novelle in particular, Goethe brings forth this very colour from darkness and light, and herein lay his genius, though he himself did not agree. Lamentably, Goethe’s only fallibility was believing he needed to prove Newton wrong, as this was not necessary. He had already done so in his poetic works.

He was boiling for the days but not in position to hide
He had chosen suicidal course with two horses to ride
He was in dilemma where to go and how to confide?
Very strange situation for a person to take a side

Bees go from one flower to another for collection of food
Female bees stay at hone to take care of in good mood
What she has to do other than looking after them well
Not fully aware that life is going to prove living hell

Nature has given same quality of deceit in all the insects
It is prevalent in all kind of animals too as matter of fact
We are intelligent human being but still perform same act
Come to hasty conclusion immediately and violently react

I was not surprised at all at his anger and out burst
I was quick enough to catch his nerves and new at first
He was finding quick ways to get rid of at the outset
Stage was set by him to shunt and make me off set

It was easy on his part to sacrifice me for other woman
He wanted to assert in his domain as powerful man
He forgot to realize it is woman behind man that counts
Everything else becomes secondary when problem mounts

I had to brace myself and prepare for future eventualities
Women are considered as weak and poor in qualities
When times comes to act, woman accepts challenges
It is mild and caring heart that takes on and manages

Why not man folk understand that woman is powerful ally?
She can prove herself for anything and can’t be silly
She is not just good at bed or pawn in his game
She can prove worthy mother too and not duck lame

Does outer beauty only need attention and recognition?
Is beautiful face and sensual overtures enough for ignition?
Does the long attachment and loyalty offer no solution?
If this is realized sooner or later it will be then great revolution

Let my example be taken as sounding measure
There may be bubbles or short lived fissures
We may survive the forced domain of men falks
With honor and dignity we may proudly walk