Some Buddhist traditions consider Budai a Buddha or a bodhisattva, often identifying him with Maitreya (the future Buddha).[1][5][7][8]
His identification with the Maitreya is attributed to a Buddhist hymn (Chinese: 偈语; pinyin: jìyǔ) he uttered before his death:[4]
彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時時示時人，時人自不識
Maitreya, the true Maitreya
has billions of incarnations.
Often he is shown to people at the time;
other times they do not recognize him.
