Hōzō Bosatsu

The name and role of Hōzō Bosatsu

Listed as one of the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas. It is described as a bodhisattva of great compassion who holds seven kinds of rare treasures and opens its storehouse in response to wishes to give those treasures. Its attribute is said to be a flute.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Protecting those who wish for rebirth in the Land of Bliss

The Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas protect people who wish to be reborn in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha. A Jōdo school dictionary explains the protection of practitioners taught in the Jū Ōjō Amidabutsu Koku Kyō as the basis of this belief. Rather than assigning separate benefits such as wealth or study to each one, they can be understood first through their saving work as a group.

Source: 浄土宗

Raigō paintings and the bodhisattvas of nerikuyō

As Pure Land belief spread, the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas came to be depicted in raigō paintings, in which they come with Amida Nyorai to welcome the dying, and in nerikuyō processions. This is explained as a development from the understanding that the bodhisattvas who protect practitioners in daily life would also protect them at the moment of death. Attributes such as musical instruments and lotus pedestals differ from source to source; the individual forms shown here are mainly based on Shōhōin's materials, which introduce the Butsuzō Zui.

Source: 浄土宗・飛不動尊 正宝院

Related kami and buddhas

• Nijūgo Bosatsu (the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas)二十五菩薩