Ingata the Arhat

Venerable Ingata is traditionally said to have been a snake-catcher from India who captured snakes not for harm but to protect passersby from venomous bites; after catching them, he would remove their fangs and release them back into the mountains—a practice rooted in compassion and merit-making. After ordination, he carried a cloth sack wherever he went, earning him the epithet 'Cloth-Sack Arhat'. This sack does not hold worldly wealth but symbolically contains the afflictions of sentient beings: as people entrust their sorrows and worries to the sack, the Venerable shoulders them all, teaching that true freedom arises the moment one releases attachment. It is important to note that this arhat—numbered among the Sixteen Arhats—is distinct from the Five Dynasties-era Budai Monk (a manifestation of Maitreya Bodhisattva); the former is an Indian arhat venerated in the early Buddhist canon, while the latter is a sinicised embodiment of Maitreya.