Ruyi () is a Chinese curved decorative object that serves as either a ceremonial scepter in Chinese Buddhism or a talisman symbolizing power and good fortune in Chinese folklore. The "ruyi" image frequently appears as a motif in Asian art. A traditional ruyi has a long S-shaped handle and a head fashioned like a fist, cloud, or lingzhi mushroom. Ruyi are constructed from diverse materials. For example, the Palace Museum in Beijing has nearly 3,000 ruyi variously made of gold, silver, iron, bamboo, wood, ivory, coral, rhinoceros horn, lacquer, crystal, jade, and precious gems. Word The Chinese term ruyi is a compound of ru 如 "as; like; such as; as if; for example; supposing; be like; be similar; accord with" and yi 意 "wish; will; desire; intention; suggestion; thought; idea; meaning; imagination". Standard Chinese uses ruyi either as a stative verb meaning "as desired; as one wishes, as one likes; according to one's wishes; following your heart's desires", or as an adjective meaning "satisfied, pleased, happy, comfortable". The word is combined with suanpan 算盤 "abacus" in the expression ruyi suanpan to mean considering things only from a positive perspective; to be overly optimistic in one's plans. Chinese ruyi was borrowed as a Buddhist loanword into other East Asian languages such as Japanese and Korean with corresponding Sino-Xenic pronunciations. History Chinese classic texts from the Former Han dynasty (206 BC – 24 AD) contain the earliest usages of the word ruyi. For example, the Shiji history uses it both literally for "as desired" and for the given name of Liu Ruyi 劉如意 (d. 195 BC), who was the son of Emperor Gaozu of Han and Concubine Qi. The Hanshu biography of the fangshi astrologer and mathematician Jing Fang (78–37 BCE) quotes him using ruyi meaning "as you wish" in an audience with Emperor Yuan of Han (tr. Edkins 1904: 238), "I fear that though your Majesty acts in this way you will still not obtain what accords with your wish." The anthropologist Berthold Laufer (1912:336) said that the Chinese accounts of the ruyi are "more unsatisfactory" than for any other object in Chinese culture. Scholars have proposed two basic theories for the origin of the ruyi, writes Kieschnick (2003:141). The former is that ruyi originated from Sanskrit anuruddha "a ceremonial scepter" used by Buddhist monks in India, who later brought it to China, transliterated as analu 阿那律 or translated as ruyi.