What is the meaning of "Eighteen Lohans" and what is the allusion to it?

The Buddhist scriptures say that the sixteen Lohans are the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, and that they follow the Buddha's instruction not to enter into nirvana, but to dwell on earth and to spread the mercy of all sentient beings. The earliest Beiliang, Dao Tai translation of the "Into the Mahayana Discourses," said: "The venerable Bintulu, venerable Luo epiphany Luo such as the sixteen of the great voices ---- guarding the Buddha's teachings," but did not list the names of the remaining fourteen people. The name of the earliest sixteen Lohan, from where it comes? Is the Tang, Xuanzang master translation of the Great Arhat Nandimitra said that the record of residence (referred to as the "record of residence") in the earliest record.

"Arahant" has three meanings:

The first is to "kill the thief", kill the thief of the trouble;

The second is to "should be provided for", that is to say, should be subject to the human and celestial

The third is said to be "lifeless", that is not bound by the cycle of birth and death, has reached the realm of immortality.

The names of the sixteen Lohans: Bintulu Tuluo Lohan (commonly known as the "Sitting Deer Lohan"), Kanojavaji ("Joyful Lohan", knowing all good and evil), Kanojavaji Tulizhi Lohan ("Bowl Lohan"), Sopitaka Lohan ("Bowl Lohan"), and Sopitaka Lohan ("Bowl Lohan"). "), Sopitaka ("Tota Lohan"), Nojukra ("Meditation Lohan"), and Tritra ("Crossing the River Lohan," meaning sage), Kali?ga ("elephant-riding Lohan", the Buddha's attendant), Vasara Vedānta ("laughing lion Lohan", meaning "Vajradhara"), Shubhoga (" Shubhoga ("Happy Lohan", meaning "untouchable" or "man-root-breaker", a eunuch before he became a monk), Semitoga ("Prospector Lohan", meaning "roadside student"), Raphyala ("Contemplative Lohan", Shakyamuni's own son), Nagarjuna ("Ear-digging Lohan", meaning "Dragon Army", customarily referred to as the "Dragon's Army"). The customary name is "Nashin Bhikkhu"), Ingata ("Bukkhu Lohan"), Varnashas ("Banana Lohan"), Ashitaka ("Long-browed Lohan"), Athitaka ("Long-browed Lohan"), and Ksitigarbha ("Long-browed Lohan"). "Long-browed Lohan", the Buddha's attendant), and Note-tan Half-toka ("Watching Gate Lohan", the younger brother of Half-toka).

Images of the Sixteen Lohans: They were drawn by later artists from their own imaginations, and there was originally no stereotyped image. The earliest surviving statue of the Sixteen Lohans is in Hangzhou's Yixia Cave, created by the wife and brother of the King of Wuyue, who wished for it.

Later on, famous painters such as Wang Wei, Guan Xiu, Li Gonglun, Zhang Sin Hari, Qiu Ying and so on painted the sixteen Lohans.

How did the Eighteen Lohans come about? Ancient Chinese people believe that "nine" is an auspicious number, so they always think that "sixteen" is not as good as "eighteen" (two "nine"), such as "sixteen" is not as good as "eighteen" (two "nine"). ") is good, such as "eighteen martial arts", "eighteen bachelors" ---- After the Tang Dynasty, sixteen Luohan was added two venerable, into the "eighteen Luohan

The earliest of the eighteen Luohan was the "Eighteen Luohan".

The earliest known "eighteen luohan" is the Northern Song Dynasty Su Dongpo, he got from the folk Shu, Jianzhou, Jinshui Zhang's painting of the "eighteen luohan map", but the eighteen luohan's name Su Dongpo is not listed.

The Song Dynasty's Zhi Pan in his "Buddha Tuanji" that: the seventeenth Lohan and the eighteenth Lohan should be Gaya Ye Zunzong and Juntu Bowie sigh Zunzong (Maitreya Lower Birthday Sutra recorded).

Until the Qianlong years of the Qing Dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor and Zhangjia Hutuketu Living Buddha that: the last two of the eighteen Lohan should be the Dragon Bucking Lohan (Gaya Ye Zunyi) and the Tiger Bucking Lohan (Maitreya Zunyi), Dragon Bucking and Tiger Bucking is very much in line with Chinese tastes, and with the addition of the Chin-designated, from then on, the eighteen Lohan has been stipulated down.

Tibetans consider Gashayapa to be the Dragon Bucking Lohan and Nadamitra to be the Tiger Bucking Lohan.

Some temples, in addition to the sixteen Lohan, plus Xuanzang and Maitreya, or wrongly divided the first venerable Bintulu Trek Lazhi into two people and then add Qingyou, and some will be the author of the "Ode to the Insight of Causes and Fruits," Manalodo and the author of the "Record of the Dharma Residence," Nandamitra, considered to be the descending dragon and the vajra tiger, are not correct.