About this ebook
Although virtually unknown in the West, the Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva has been popularly used for centuries in East Asia in the rituals concerned with death and dying. The Earth Store Sutra records various previous lives of Earth Store (Ksitigarbha) Bodhisattva in which he made vows. The first of these stories relates how the bodhisattva was once the daughter of a Brahmin woman who dies and is consigned to the hells for offenses that she has committed in her lifetime. In an act of filial responsibility and respect, the daughter travels to the hells to rescue her mother from its horrors and subsequently vows to rescue all beings who suffer there. The rich descriptions of the kinds of karmic retribution and punishments that the dead suffer in the hells are reminiscent of the Christian hell in Dante’s Inferno.
The theme of this Sutra is to offer a model of filial respect and elucidate Earth Store Bodhisattva’s determination to use every means and expedient available to fulfill those vows.
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5.0
4 reviews
min chien lim
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July 28, 2022
This sutra speaks of the Hells and the karmic retribution of living beings of Jambudvipa. Earth Store Bodhisattva was also entrusted with taking care of our world after the nirvana of Sakyamuni Buddha. There are 26 benefits associated with worshipping this Bodhisattva and the sutra speaks of 4 rebirths of this figure in the past and the associated vows that he made in each life.
Suresh Tee
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January 12, 2015
Fantastic
1 person found this review helpful
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