WaterFlowersIncenseRiceFruitButter lampsCaring for childrenVisiting graves
Invocation Approach
Tone
Patient unsentimental steadfast
Address
KsitigarbhaJizoDizangEarth-Store Bodhisattva
Relationship
The one who goes down rather than up
Warning
He does not negotiate he stays
Resonance
The bereaved parents those who tend graves
Symbols
Wish granting jewelKhakkhara staffLotusThe six realmsPilgrims hat
Mythology Summary
Ksitigarbha, 'earth-store' or 'earth-womb', is the bodhisattva of the hell realms and of the dead, whose vows are set out in the Ksitigarbha Purvapranidhana Sutra and summarised in the line the tradition puts in his mouth: until hell is empty he will not become a Buddha. He is shown as a monk rather than a prince — shaven-headed, a wish-fulfilling jewel in one hand and a ringed pilgrim's staff (khakkhara) in the other — standing in the six realms rather than above them. In China he is Dizang, one of the four great bodhisattvas, with his mountain at Jiuhua Shan; in Japan he is Jizo, the roadside protector of children and travellers. He is not Yama and not a judge of the dead: he is the one who goes into the hells on their behalf.
Modern Practice
He is called on at funerals and graveside rites in China, Korea and Japan, and by parents who have lost or aborted a child — the mizuko kuyo rite, which is largely a post-1970s Japanese development. Tibetan practitioners know him as one of the eight great bodhisattvas, invoked for the earth and for the dying.