Guardian of the Lost: Venerated Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha, King of the Great Vow (vegan), Part 3 of 3

In the 7th century, during the Tang dynasty, Her Majesty Empress Wu Zetian invited the Tripiṭaka Master Śikṣānanda (vegetarian) from Khotan to the Chinese capital of Luoyang to translate Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Among his most influential translations was the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra, which shaped devotion to Kṣitigarbha in East Asia. The Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra teaches the processes of birth, aging, illness, and death experienced by all beings, revealing the workings of cause and effect in the cycle of existence. It records Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s great compassionate vows and the testimony of countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, offering guidance on moral responsibility. It demonstrates the karmic results of deeds, including suffering in hell, and offers newcomers entry into Kṣitigarbha’s compassionate teaching and a path to liberation.

In 2015, our Most Beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) read and explained Chapter 6 of the Sūtra, “The Thus Come One’s Praises.” “‘His strong voice reached to all the Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas in those Buddha Lands’ – that was from Heaven; it’s easier to do this kind of thing – ‘as well as to the gods, dragons, ghosts and spirits, humans, non-humans, and others, saying, “Listen today, as I praise Earth Store Bodhisattva Mahasattva, Who displays an inconceivable awesome spiritual strength and compassionate power throughout the Ten Directions as He rescues and protects beings when things happen to them as they suffer for offenses they have committed. After I pass into Tranquility, all of you Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas, and all of you gods, dragons, ghosts, spirits, and others should use vast numbers of expedient devices to protect this Sūtra and to cause all beings to testify to the bliss of Nirvana.”’ This one. Buddha wants all beings – all of the powerful devas, gods, or Bodhisattvas – to protect this Sūtra. So it must be very important, because if everybody knows the cause and consequences and the terrible suffering they have to undergo in hell, then maybe they'll think twice before they do something bad. Maybe the world will have more peace.”

The Kṣitigarbha Sūtra offers some of its most direct teachings on karma when it addresses how the actions of the living, especially acts of killing performed in the name of the dead, can affect the fate of the deceased and the living. In 2018, our Beloved Master further explained: “It says so in the Kṣitigarbha Sūtra: if any dead person, the relatives kill or offer meat and animal(-people) products in the name of the dead, the dead will be in trouble, bad karma and may go to hell, may suffer more. […] The Kṣitigarbha Sūtra is very clear. Even [if] you give birth to the babies, and if the family members kill chicken(-people) and all that to give to the mother, then it’s very bad for both mother and son. Because those demons who love to smell the blood from the mother at the time of birth and all that, they are hanging around already, and they will eat all these foods also, and then they will make very much heavy energy for the mother and son at the so so-sensitive time. They need more rest, more good energy, but they did all the wrong things, all the opposite things. It’s stated all in the Kṣitigarbha Sūtra and much more. In the Kṣitigarbha Sūtra, it even says that the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva told the Buddha that: ‘I observed in the whole physical world, all the beings, every little second, every little minute, nothing they think, nothing they do, doesn’t cause karma for them.’ That bad!”

In Buddhist cosmology, the Universe consists of six realms of rebirth: gods, demi-gods, humans, animal-people, hungry ghosts, and hell beings. The hell realms, Naraka in Sanskrit, are considered the most painful and hopeless. These are terribly long-lasting, with suffering tailored to karmic misdeeds. Fire, ice, crushing, piercing – each punishment is a result of one’s actions. It is here that Kṣitigarbha chose to dwell – not to judge, not to punish, but to liberate suffering beings. This powerful Bodhisattva vowed to remain active in saṃsāra until every last being in the hell realms was freed.