Eighteen Arhats

The Eighteen Arhats (or Eighteen Luohans) (Chinese: 十八羅漢; pinyin: Shíbā Luóhàn; Wade–Giles: Shih-pa Lo-han) are depicted in Chinese Buddhism as the original followers of Gautama Buddha (arhat) who have followed the Noble Eightfold Path and attained the four stages of enlightenment. They have reached the state of Nirvana and are free of worldly cravings. They are charged to protect the Buddhist faith and to wait on earth for the coming of Maitreya, an enlightened Buddha prophesied to arrive on earth many millennia after Gautama Buddha's death (parinirvana). In China, the eighteen arhats are also a popular subject in Buddhist art, such as the famous Chinese group of glazed pottery luohans from Yixian from about 1000 CE.

In China

Originally, the arhats were composed of only 10 disciples of Gautama Buddha, although the earliest Indian sutras indicate that only 4 of them, Pindola, Kundadhana, Panthaka and Nakula, were instructed to await the coming of Maitreya. Earliest Chinese representations of the arhats can be traced back to as early as the fourth century, and mainly focused on Pindola who was popularized in art by the book Method for Inviting Pindola (Chinese: 請賓度羅法; pinyin: Qǐng Bīndùluó Fǎ).

Later this number increased to sixteen to include patriarchs and other spiritual adepts. Teachings about the Arhats eventually made their way to China where they were called Luohan (羅漢, shortened from a-luo-han a Chinese transcription for Arhat), but it wasn't until 654 AD when the Nandimitrāvadāna (Chinese: 法住記; pinyin: Fǎzhùjì), Record on the Duration of the Law, spoken by the Great arhat Nadimitra, was translated by Xuanzang into Chinese that the names of these arhats were known. For some reason Kundadhana was dropped from this list.

Somewhere between the late Tang dynasty and early Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of China two other Luohans were added to the roster increasing the number to 18. But this depiction of 18 Luohans only gained a foothold in China, whereas other areas like Japan continued to revere only sixteen and their roster differs somewhat.