Bodhisattva (bosatsu)
Mujin'i Bosatsu
無盡意菩薩
Mujin'i Bosatsu is the bodhisattva who puts questions to Shaka in the Kanzeon Bosatsu Fumon-bon chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Through the questions of why Kannon is called Kanzeon and how Kannon saves people, the explanation of Kannon's compassion unfolds.
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
Asking about Kannon's work and drawing out the teaching
Mujin'i Bosatsu is the bodhisattva who puts questions to Shaka in the Kanzeon Bosatsu Fumon-bon chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Through the questions of why Kannon is called Kanzeon and how Kannon saves people, the explanation of Kannon's compassion unfolds.
Source: 広済寺
Offering a necklace
Mujin'i tries to offer Kannon a necklace (yōraku). Kannon at first declines, but accepts it at Shaka's urging, divides it in two and offers the halves to Shaka and to the stupa of Tahō Butsu. It is told as a scene in which what was received is offered further to the buddhas.
Source: 広済寺
Names outside the Lotus Sutra, and a link to the 21st day
Shōhōin also calls Mujin'i Bosatsu Jōe Kongō and Mujin Kongō Bosatsu, and introduces it as a deity who teaches eighty kinds of inexhaustible paths of teaching. It also places it as the buddha of the 21st day among the Thirty-Day Buddhas (sanjūnichi hibutsu). This explanation is meant for reading it separately from the story in the Fumon-bon chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院
Related kami and buddhas
Sources (in Japanese)
- 飛不動尊 正宝院「仏様の世界：無盡意菩薩」（2026-10-14 確認）
- 飛不動尊 正宝院「仏様の世界：目次」（2026-10-14 確認）
- 広済寺「法華経解説：観世音菩薩普門品第二十五」（2026-10-15 確認）
- 鹿鳴文庫「仏像図彙：無尽意菩薩」（2026-10-15 確認）