Chinese man blasts Buddha with wishes for girlfriend, money

A Chinese man has tried to make sure all his wishes come true by travelling 2,000km to the site of a giant Buddha and holding up a big airpod-shaped speaker to blast out his prayers to the statue, reports South China Morning Post.

In a video posted by the man, surnamed Zhang, on Chinese social media platform Douyin on April 25, he can be seen holding up the sizeable speaker beside the ear of the 71-metre-tall Leshan Giant Buddha and cranking up the volume on his phone so that the deity “can hear him better”.

“Do you know, giant Buddha, I’m 27 years old and I don’t have a car, a house or a girlfriend,” Zhang shouted.

He then made his wish, saying, “Firstly, I want to be rich. I don’t need much. 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) is enough.

“Most importantly, I want a girlfriend, who is just a little bit pretty, tender and loves me rather than my 10 million!”

Zhang said that following a run of bad luck as a result of “mercury retrograde”, he decided to spend 12 hours during the weekend travelling from China’s eastern Zhejiang province to southwestern Sichuan, to the Big Buddha.

Mercury retrograde is an astrological phenomenon that occurs three to four times a year and is an optical illusion involving the realignment of planet Mercury on which many blame their woes.

Zhang said he bought the speaker on an e-commerce platform because it was “a good match with the Buddha”.