Origin Story
Mujinjang (無盡藏) joins mujin (無盡, "never running dry") with jang (藏, "storehouse"). In Buddhism it was a profound philosophical term for boundless virtue — the dharma-meaning (法義) of the Buddha that no amount of practice could exhaust, truth without end. The Vimalakirti Sutra teaches that "to help the poor and suffering is itself to practice the mujinjang." Temples even ran a kind of public fund for aiding the needy, called mujinjae (無盡財) or mujinjang-won (無盡藏院); begun in the Tang dynasty, it flourished greatly in Goryeo. The name meant a storehouse that gives without ever running out. That deep philosophical and charitable sense has faded, and today only the notion of quantity — "an enormous amount" — remains. So when we say something is "mujinjang plentiful," we are quietly borrowing the boundless virtue of the Buddha.
A sacred word for the inexhaustible virtue of the Buddha has dwindled into the everyday phrase "an awful lot." The word lives on, but the philosophy inside it quietly slips away.
Meaning Evolution
How It Is Used
That library has a "mujinjang" of rare old books — more than you could ever count.
Work has piled up "mujinjang" high today, so it looks like I'll be staying late.
Deep in the mountains, the stars shone "mujinjang" bright, as if about to pour down.
Related Words
Memory Hook
無 (none) 盡 (exhaust) 藏 (storehouse) → "a storehouse that never runs dry" → so abundant that no matter how much you take out, it never ends.
"From the sacred storehouse of the Buddha's inexhaustible virtue, we draw out just one phrase to use: "an awful lot.""