Gakkō-ō Bosatsu

The name and role of Gakkō-ō Bosatsu

A bodhisattva listed as one of the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas. It is explained that this bodhisattva is pure and unstained like moonlight, has perfect virtue, and guides all living beings.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Tracing the figure and traditions

The held object is recorded as a furitsuzumi (rattle drum).

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 Pure Land

The Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas are bodhisattvas who protect people who wish to be reborn in the pure land of Amida Butsu. A Jōdo school dictionary explains the protection of practitioners taught in the Jū Ōjō Amida Bukkoku-kyō as the basis of this faith. Rather than assigning each one a separate effect such as financial luck or success in study, they can first be understood through their work of salvation as a group.

Source: 浄土宗

Raigō paintings and the bodhisattvas of nerikuyō

As Pure Land faith 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 bodhisattvas who protect practitioners in daily life would also protect them at the moment of death. Held objects such as musical instruments and lotus pedestals differ by source, and the individual forms shown here are based mainly on Shōhōin's materials introducing 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