This statue was in the woods behind the Chinese temple on the hill. It is not a depiction of the Buddha himself. Buddha lived a simple, sometimes ascetic, life and was almost certainly not fat. The "Fat Buddha" is a Chinese addition to Buddhism. Nobles and successful merchants of old China were often fat since they had the good things of life, so fat bellies came to represent nobility, good luck and wealth. A well-respected, fat and jolly monk of long ago was probably the inspiration for images like this.