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The Eight Brocades and Budai

This post has been translated from Dutch into English with DeepL. It will be manually edited and streamlined soon.

This is what the first stretch of the Ba Duan Jing series looks like. And not performed by a soldier from Yu Fei's army. Nor by any of the figures on the Dao Yin Tu. A jolly, round-bellied monk has his palms turned upwards and stretches his arms. As if he were lifting a slab of a system ceiling. It apparently takes him little effort, because instead of his face contorted with exertion, his smile could not be more generous. It is not rare to see a statue of this eccentric figure standing at the entrance of a Chinese restaurant, welcoming incoming guests. We are used to doing so with a single open hand gesture pointing to the door. But in the manner of the merry monk, the body in total extension, it can apparently be done that way too.