Below is a photo of a large buddha statue that belongs to my family. It sits outside our house in Spain.
A 'Laughing Buddha' is known as Hotei among the Chinese and is considered very auspicious. It is usually placed facing the door. His large protruding belly is symbolic of happiness, luck and prosperity. It is believed that if a person rubs his belly it brings good luck.
It is considered good luck to rub the belly of the laughing Buddha which will bring you happiness.
The laughing Buddha can often get confused with the original Buddha, 'Siddhartha Gautama' (which is shown as a tall, thin young man), which if you rubbed the belly of, would be considered very disrespectful to Asian culture and religion. Below is a statue of 'Siddhartha Gautama'.
The Laughing Buddha statue depicts a Chinese deity from pre-Buddhist folklore. This deity is referred to as Hotei in Japan, and considered one of the 'Seven Lucky Gods' (Shichi Fukujin). With Hotei being the lucky god of happiness and abundance – thus his fat, smiling appearance. Below is a carving of the 'Seven Lucky Gods' together:
Referring back to my original list of luck things, this may be one of the contributors as to why seven is known as a lucky number.
Ebisu: Ebisu is the patron of fishermen and favours them with a good catch. He also ensures safe journeys for all seafarers since he himself arrived into Japan from the sea. In the countryside, he is considered a guardian of the rice fields and agriculture in general. Land merchants, caterers, farmers and other tradesmen have adopted Ebisu for prosperity in return for their hard work. All this makes him the most popular of the seven gods.
Daikoku: Daikoku is said to protect people against evil forces. In addition to giving a good harvest to farmers, he is another god that ensures prosperity and wealth in commerce and trade. He is also guardian for cooks and all kitchen workers. People who dream of financial riches tend to worship this god.
Benten: Benten was an angel of one of the three major Indian goddesses, Sarasvati, the goddess of fine arts: music, painting, sculpture, dance and literature. These attributes help to soften the vulgarity of monetary wealth, and therefore this goddess is included in the group of seven. Although Sarasvati is a Hindu goddess, Benten came to Japan with Buddhism.
Fukurokuju: Fukurokuju was renowned for performing miracles, particularly in the field of longevity and prosperity. Therefore he is the deity of wisdom, good luck, happiness, wealth, virility and longevity.
Hotei: Hotei, like Daikoku is a god of abundance. He is also the god of laughter and the happiness you can achieve by being satisfied with what you have. He is the god of joy and satisfaction in trade, hence a Hotei statue is often positioned at the entrance of stores.
Jurojin: Jurojin is the god of wealth, wisdom and happiness for our long lives.
Bishamon: Bishamon is a protector of the righteous and a symbol of authority.
