百子戲彌勒佛像的寓意

一般我們在寺院中看到的彌勒佛銅雕佛像都是坐在蓮花座上，坦胸露乳大腹便便的造型，但是在無錫靈山腳下有一尊體型非常大的百子戲彌勒的造型，像高3米，寬7.8米重達9噸，這尊百子戲彌勒造型身上有上百個孩童在嬉戲。

Generally, the bronze statues of Maitreya Buddha that we see in the temple are all sitting on the lotus seat, with the chest open and the stomach open. But at the foot of Lingshan mountain in Wuxi, there is a very large model of Baizi play Maitreya, which is like 3 meters high, 7.8 meters wide and 9 tons heavy. There are hundreds of children playing on this model of Baizi play Maitreya.

這尊身上有上百個孩童在嬉戲，有的孩童正在疊羅漢，有的在進行拔河比賽，有的還在彌勒佛身上撒尿，有的還拿著小樹枝捅彌勒佛的肚臍眼，這尊笑容可掬的彌勒佛像刻畫的惟妙惟肖，讓人們忍不住想要上前合影拍照。

There are hundreds of children playing in this statue, some of them are overlapping, some are in tug of war, some are urinating on Maitreya, some are poking Maitreya's navel with twigs. The vivid portrayal of this smiling Maitreya Buddha makes people want to take photos.

彌勒佛像在佛教中都是笑口常開，笑天下可笑之人；大肚能容，容天下難容之事，百子戲彌勒佛像身上造型各樣、神態各異的小頑童還有這樣的說法，據說他們是在考驗彌勒的肚量，是否真如世人稱道的“大肚能容，容天下難容之事;慈顏常笑，笑天下可笑之人?！笔聦嵶C明，只有心胸開闊之人才是真正擁有快樂的人。

Maitreya statues in Buddhism are always smiling, laughing at the funny people in the world; big belly can accommodate the difficult things in the world, and there are also such sayings about the little urchins with various shapes and different expressions on the Maitreya statues in Baizi opera. It is said that they are testing Maitreya's belly, whether it is true as the saying of the world: "big belly can accommodate the difficult things in the world; kind face often smiles, laughing at the funny people in the world." It turns out that only the open-minded are the people who really have happiness.

供奉百子戲彌勒佛像還有多子多福的寓意，在古代人們把傳宗接代作為首要大事，更有不孝有三無后為大，因此在古代的時候家家彌勒佛戶戶觀世音，彌勒佛像也備受大眾的歡迎。

There is also the meaning of "many children and many blessings" in the worship of the Maitreya Buddha in Baizi opera. In ancient times, people regarded the succession of their families as the most important thing, and there were three ways of being unfilial. Therefore, in ancient times, every family of Maitreya Buddha GuanShiYin and Maitreya Buddha were popular with the public。