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Kṣitigarbha
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Kṣitigarbha

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Also known as Earth Treasury, Earth Store, Earth Matrix, Earth Womb

Kṣitigarbha (, , Wylie: sa yi snying po) is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism and usually depicted as a Buddhist monk. His name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb". Kṣitigarbha is known for his vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds between the death of Gautama Buddha and the rise of Maitreya, as well as his vow not to achieve Buddhahood until all hells are emptied. He is therefore often regarded as the bodhisattva of hell-beings, as well as the guardian of children and patron deity o

Key facts

Buddha.name
Kṣitigarbha
Buddha.image
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Painting.jpeg
Buddha.tagalog_name
Ksitigaba
Buddha.thai_name
พระกษิติครรภโพธิสัตว์
Buddha.vietnamese_name
Địa Tạng Bồ Tát
Buddha.sinhalese_name
විරූපාක්ෂ
Buddha.veneration
Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna
Buddha.attributes
Great Vow

via Wikipedia infobox

~30 min read

Encyclopedic overview

28 sections
Contents
  • Overview
  • Scriptural sources
  • As a Brahmin maiden
  • Iconography
  • Traditional iconography
  • Kṣitigarbha as Lord of the Six Ways
  • In Buddhist traditions
  • Indian and Tibetan traditions
  • Chinese traditions
  • Association with Mount Jiuhua
  • Japanese traditions
  • Ryōki
  • Children's limbo legend
  • Lost pregnancies
  • Offerings
  • Agonashi Jizō
  • Roadside god
  • Southeast Asian traditions
  • Mantra
  • Other mantras
  • Haiku & Senryū
  • In popular culture
  • Notable Iconography
  • See also
  • Explanatory notes
  • References
  • Bibliography
  • External links

Kṣitigarbha (, , Wylie: sa yi snying po) is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism and usually depicted as a Buddhist monk. His name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb". Kṣitigarbha is known for his vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds between the death of Gautama Buddha and the rise of Maitreya, as well as his vow not to achieve Buddhahood until all hells are emptied. He is therefore often regarded as the bodhisattva of hell-beings, as well as the guardian of children and patron deity of deceased children and aborted fetuses in Japanese culture.

Usually depicted as a monk with either a halo or a crown bearing images of the Five Tathāgatas around his shaved head, he carries a staff to force open the gates of hell and a wish-fulfilling jewel to light up the darkness.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Kṣitigarbha” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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