Bodhisattva (bosatsu)
Hōdanke Bosatsu
宝檀花菩薩
Hōdanke Bosatsu is a name also written 宝檀華. In a variant reading in the Dunhuang manuscript of the Yakushi Rurikō Nyorai Hongan Kudoku Kyō shown by CBETA, the name is recorded as one of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, together with Monju, Kannon and others. It is a name that can be traced not only in lists of buddha names but also in sutra text related to Yakushi devotion.
This introduction is based on materials from Shōhōin (Tobi Fudō). It is summarized within the scope of the beliefs and traditions those materials convey, and does not present explanations or customs common to all schools, shrines, and temples.
English pages are the site’s own translations of its Japanese pages. The sources cited are in Japanese. 日本語で読む
A bodhisattva whose name remains in a version of the Yakushi sutra
Hōdanke Bosatsu is a name also written 宝檀華. In a variant reading in the Dunhuang manuscript of the Yakushi Rurikō Nyorai Hongan Kudoku Kyō shown by CBETA, the name is recorded as one of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, together with Monju, Kannon and others. It is a name that can be traced not only in lists of buddha names but also in sutra text related to Yakushi devotion.
Source: 法鼓文理学院 CBETA・飛不動尊 正宝院
Showing the way to the Pure Land at the end of life
That sutra text teaches that, for people who keep the precepts, wish for rebirth in the Western Land of Bliss and have heard Yakushi's name, the eight bodhisattvas appear at the moment of death and show them the way. This scene is told as the joint work of the eight bodhisattvas and is distinguished from an independent story about Hōdanke alone.
Source: 法鼓文理学院 CBETA
Sources (in Japanese)
- 飛不動尊 正宝院「仏様の世界：宝檀花菩薩」（2026-10-14 確認）
- 飛不動尊 正宝院「仏様の世界：目次」（2026-10-14 確認）
- 法鼓文理学院 CBETA「薬師琉璃光如来本願功徳経 T0450」（2026-10-15 確認）
- 鹿鳴文庫「仏像図彙：宝檀花菩薩（寶檀華菩薩）」（2026-10-15 確認）