Laughing Buddha

A figure from popular practice rather than from the classical sources — read as a contentment object. The laughing buddha (Budai) is a figure of popular religion that entered placement practice through household custom. It is read as an object of contentment and welcome, and placed near the entrance or in a reception area.

This database documents placement principles, not outcomes. A figure from popular practice rather than from the classical sources — read as a contentment object. Being explicit that an object is folk rather than classical matters: the practice contains both, and conflating them is the main reason readers cannot tell which rules are load-bearing.

This figure does not appear in the classical feng shui sources at all. Its place in the practice comes from folk custom, and the tradition's own rules that apply to it are the general ones about figures: whole, clean, and placed at or above eye level. It is grouped under Earth (土) in the five-element system.