Fugen Enmei
Bosatsu as Appears
in Esoteric Sutras
and Texts
Iconograpahical Study of an Altar fromthe Collection of the Ferenc Hopp
Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts inBudapest

Fugen Enmei Bosatsu• 普賢延命菩薩• The Bodhisattva of Prolongationof Life
• The main deity (honzon) of theEnmeihō (esoteric ceremony toprolong one’s life)• Two types of iconography
according to shingon and tendi
esoteric sutras and texts

Fugen Enmei Bosatsu statue
Taisan-ji, Japan
11th century

Fugen Enmei in Esoteric Buddhism• Recent point of view: one of theiconographicalrepresentations
belongs to the shingon buddhism
and the other to the tendai esotericbuddhism;

Fugen Enmei Bosatsu
Ink on paper
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston(Acq.Nr.: 11.6238)• BUT during the Heian- andKamakura-periods
arose
someconfusion in the attribution to theshingon or tendai schools

Two Types of the Fugen Enmei
Iconography
1. Fugen Enmei with two arms, sitting
on a three-headed white elephant with
six tusks on each head, that isstanding on the Great Vajra Wheel (J.
dai-kongōrin 大金剛輪)

Fugen Enmei Bosatsu
Kakemono
Boston, MFA
12th century(Acq.Nr.: 11.4036)

Two Types of the Fugen Enmei
Iconography
2. Fugen Enmei with twenty arms,
sitting on a four-headed white elephantwith six tusks and the Four Heavenly
Kings (J. Shitennō 四天王) on each
headFugen Enmei Bosatsu
Kakemono
Daigo-ji, Japan
13-14th centuries

Sutras and Texts About Fugen Enmei 1.
• The first type can be found in anesoteric sutra: Amoghavajra’s (Fukū不空) translation, the Bussetsu issai
shonyoraishin kōmyō kaji FugenBosatsu enmei kongō saishō daranikyō佛説一切諸如來心光明加持普賢菩薩延命金剛最勝陀羅尼經Fugen Enmei Bosatsu
KakemonoMatsunoo-dera, Japan
12th century• Amoghavajra’s text: ｢五佛頭冠。右手持金剛杵。左手持召集金剛鈴。契鬘縱緩帶坐千葉寶華。下有白象王
象有三頭。鼻卷獨股杵。各具六牙。其象四足踏一大金剛輪。輪下有五千群象。 ｣ (Fugen Enmei darani-kyō普賢延命陀羅尼經, SAT Vol.20, Nr. 1136, p. 580)
„On the head [there is a] crown with five Buddhas. In the right hand holds avajra. In the left hand holds a vajra bell that calls together all. Wears a priest’srobe and sits on a thousand-petal lotus throne. Under there is a white elephantking, the elephant has three heads, in his trunks there are single-arm vajras
folded, each [elephant] has six tusks. This elephant has four feet, stands on agreat vajra wheel. Under the wheel there is a group of five thousandelephants.”

Sutras and Texts About Fugen Enmei 2.
• The second type is not mentioned inany sutras, BUT some priests raise
the question of it being mentioned byVajrabodhi (Kongōchi 金剛智)
• Today it is generally accepted that
this iconography originates in therepresentation of Daianraku Fukū
Shinjitsu Bosatsu大安楽不空金剛三
昧 真 実 菩 薩 , who appears in theHenchiin section of the esoteric
Womb World Mandala (Taizōkai
mandara胎蔵界曼荼羅)

Fugen Enmei Bosatsu
KakemonoJikō-ji, Japan1153

Confusion in the Shingon School• In the Heian-period many new streams appear in theshingon school (Daigo-ha, Ono-ryū, Hirosawa-ryū,Danna-ryū)• The second type iconography has no previous mentions• Especially the priests of the Daigo-ji address the questionof the iconography of their temple’s kakemono (secondtype)• Genkai’s 元海 text: ｢天台本乘一身四頭之象。｣(Hōzōshi 厚造紙, between1153 and 1156, SAT Vol.78, Nr. 2483,p.262)„In the Tendai texts it is sitting on an elephant with one body and four heads.”• Jitsuun’s 實運 text: ｢又本尊二臂也。而今四象二十臂者依金剛智口決歟｣ (Genbishō 厚造紙, 1159 or after, SAT
Vol.78, Nr. 2486, p.403)„After all our principal image (honzon) has two arms. May the representationsof four elephants and twenty arms be the saying of Kongōchi?”• Kenjin’s 憲深 text: ｢自宗四頭象也。天台三頭ト習也。
三頭象云ハ普賢延命經見タリ。(…) 四頭象金剛智口決見。四頭生老病死四苦配也。三頭生老病死ノ除也。死苦無體之故除之由天台申傳歟。 ｣ (Kōshinshō 幸心鈔, c.
1263, SAT Vol.78, Nr. 2498, p.719)„In our school it is a four-headed elephant. In the tendai school it is often threeheaded. We can see that there is a sutra explanation for the three headedelephant. (…) We can see tha four-headed elephant in Vajrabodhi’s saying. Thefour heads are the four sufferings: life, old age, sickness and death. The threeheads are life, old age and sickness, but death is left out.The suffering of death
is not corporeal cause, maybe that is what seoarates from the Tendai
interpretation?”• Raiyu’s 賴瑜 text: ｢二臂菩薩乘一身三頭白象 (普賢延命陀羅尼經説也) 二十臂像乘三箇白象 (經説。此一説也) 二十臂像乘四箇白象 (剛智口訣。東寺行。 天台不知歟。) ｣ (Hishōmondō 祕鈔問答, 1297, SAT Vol.79, Nr. 2536,p.434)„The bosatsu with two arms sits on an elephant with three heads on one body(this is the Fugen Enmei darani-kyō explanation). One with twenty arms sits onthree white elephants (there is a sutra explanation – this is the same sutra). Onewith twenty arms sits on four white elephants (Kongōchi’s explanation – it is inthe Tō-ji, may the tendai school not know this?).”The Zushi in the Ferenc Hopp Museum ofEastern Asiatic Arts

Zushi with Fugen
Enmei Bosatsu statue
Budapest, Ferenc Hopp MEAA
18th century(Acq.Nr.: 88.18)

Fugen Enmei Bosatsu
Kakemono
The British Museum
18th century(Acq.Nr.: AN446622001)

Fugen Enmei Bosatsu
Drawing from the Butsuzō Zui
From the 1783 editionof Tosa Hidenobu

Fugen Enmei Bosatsu
StatueParis, Musée Guimet