An amulet I always love to see on someone's desk is the laughing Buddha. 

While meant to be powerful, this particular form is usually presented as small, rotund, drunk-happy and jolly in appearance. These are some of the most highly sought after souvenirs in China and Nepal and are available in all sorts of materials such as wood, teak, rosewood, sandalwood etc. Some believe a vigorous 'rub' of the Buddha's tummy bestows luck on the individual doing so.

Having attended Bal-Vikas and other theological classes during childhood and having read and attended discourses on the world's religions, something about this presentation of the Buddha is very ironic to me.

Briefly, prince Siddhartha (Buddha's original name), was taken aback by the wealth of suffering and pain that existed just beyond his palace walls. He decided that he needed to understand the source of such suffering. In order to do so, he proceeded to subject himself to varying levels of physical and mental deprivation. These included fasting without food or water, sleep and other rigorous disciplines. He then learned that it wasn't necessary to subject oneself to such pain in order to experience some truths. These were then expressed in the four noble truths, and the solutions to these, in the noble eightfold path.

Basically, someone who fasted, tortured himself and abstained from any worldly pleasures, could in no way have ever been short, rotund and the way he is portrayed in these symbols. 

So, the next time you see a Laughing Buddha, go ahead and rub the tummy. But think about some of the wisdom in the four truths and eightfold paths, and then remember it isn't meant to be as jolly as it appears. 

At the least, the 'right concentration', 'right mindfulness' and 'right livelihood' portions of the eightfold path would probably have an issue with 'luck', i.e. money or other material requests, bestowed by simply rubbing the Buddha's tummy. He probably wouldn't have gone for that.