釋氏稽古略 3.367

3.367

The Cloth-Bag Monk (Budai Heshang), named Qici, manifested his presence in Fenghua County of Mingzhou. He often carried a cloth bag on a stick and held a broken mat; whatever he used to sustain his body was entirely stored in the bag. When he entered the market and saw things, he would beg for them, even if it were vinegar, minced meat, fish, or pickled vegetables; no sooner had he put a tiny bit into his mouth than he threw the rest into the sack. At that time, he was called Changtingzi. Reaching this point, on the third day of the third month of the second year of Zhenming, he sat beneath the corridor of Yuelin Monastery and spoke a verse, saying:
"Maitreya, the true Maitreya,
Divides his body into hundreds of billions of forms;
From time to time he shows himself to the people of the time,
Yet the people of the time do not recognize him."
Having spoken the verse, he calmly passed away. Later, people in other prefectures saw him again walking with his sack on his back, and they vied with one another to paint his likeness and make offerings to it.