On 'The Inexhaustible Store'

mujinzou — The Inexhaustible Store.

On the origin

A Buddhist term for “the storehouse that never runs dry.” As a Zen phrase it is drawn from the Song-dynasty poet Su Dongpo’s line “mu-ichi-motsu-chū mujinzō” — within having nothing at all, an inexhaustible store — long inscribed on scrolls for the tea room.

On the reading

Where nothing is held, nothing runs out. The store stays full only for the hand that has let go. What is counted can be spent. What is not counted has no bottom.

On the garment

The seal for this phrase was hand-carved in Tokyo by the artist Satake Hōsen. The front carries this phrase’s seal; the back and inside label carry the Hōsen seal (寳千), printed in vermilion.

The garment is Bella + Canvas 3001 (short sleeve) or Gildan 2400 (long sleeve). A vessel for the word, not the subject itself.

― hosen, tokyo