Japanese Buddhist
pilgrims, as Roshi Chozen Bays tells us in her remarkable book brought Jizo
Bosatsu, with his compassion and saving graces, back to Japan from China.
Chinese Empress Wu Zetien, (624-705) despite her reputation for ambition and
ruthlessness, was, nonetheless a devout Buddhist laywoman. Monks visiting the
Tang Court from India spoke of a longer edition of a popular scripture, the Flower
Adornment (Avatamsaka) Sutra, and she wanted to read it. She
promised to reward any pilgrim who could deliver the text, in Chinese
translation, into her hands. The Khotanese translator Master Shikshananda,
“Joy Of Learning,” (7th century) did just that. He brought a palm-leaf
manuscript of the Flower Adornment Scripture to the Tang Court where he
skillfully turned the Sanskrit into Chinese. The Empress assembled hundreds of
scholar-monks and attended the translation sessions herself.
Before
returning to Khotan, Shikshananda brought forth from his monk’s bag a copy of
the Sutra On The Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva and asked
permission to translate it as well. The stories of Earth Store (Jizo)
Bodhisattva began in China with that text.
The narratives tell
of great vows by heroic women, adventures of courageous children who make
fearless sacrifices to repay their debt of kindness to their parents, graphic,
gory accounts of the hells and sublime tales of the heavens. We find practical
advice for the spiritual aspects of childbirth, interpretation of dreams, and
guidelines for avoiding rebirth in the evil destinies of animals, ghost and the
hells.
Now Jizo Bosatsu,
along with this timeless epic narrative, has come to the West.
The
Bodhisattva With the Greatest Vows
His
name in Sanskrit is Ksitigarbha. The name “Earth Store” could also be
translated into English as “Earth Treasury,” or “Earth Storehouse.”
Earth Store, like its Japanese equivalent, Jizo, and the Chinese Dizang,
is a quick two syllables, easy to chant in one breath, and easy to remember.
Earth
Store, one of the four great Bodhisattvas of the Mahayana, is known as “the
Bodhisattva with the Greatest Vows.” His two unforgettable vows are:
“Only
after the Hells are empty will I become a Buddha” and
“Only
after all beings are taken across to Enlightenment will I myself realize Bodhi.”
Implied
in these vows is the assertion that although Earth Store has the wisdom and the
virtue necessary to become a Buddha, he chooses instead to postpone his own
liberation until all beings have been safely rescued from the evil destinies.
Only when they reach Nirvana, will Earth Store fulfil his vows. Since living
beings are busy creating offenses non-stop, Earth Store’s duties in the hells
are likely to extend into the infinite future. Such unimaginable courage and
compassion are what makes his vows particularly great.
Womens'
Relationships With Their Mothers
I
was a graduate student when I first heard stories of Buddhist women heroes in
the Mahayana tradition. I read the story of Gangadevi, "The Goddess
of the Ganges," a Buddhist female saint. Gangadevi, like Gwan Yin
Bodhisattva in the Lotus Sutra, had made a rich offering to the Buddha
and in turn had received a prediction to enlightenment. Predictions to
enlightenment mark a major turning point in one’s cultivation of the
Bodhisattva Path.
Gangadevi’s
prediction caused some of the less-accomplished Arhat disciples to grumble.
“How could a mere maiden win the most sublime prize: a prediction to
Buddhahood, when that goal has eluded us, the real disciples, for so long?”
they complained.
The
Buddha’s “field of blessings," however, is impartial, compassionate,
and non-judgemental. He explained to the Arhats that whoever makes offerings to
the Triple Jewel with a pure heart, seeking nothing from the act, gains a
corresponding reward, regardless of gender, race, age, or social status. If the
grumpy Arhats had made a similar offering with Gangadevi’s sincerity, they
too, along with the Goddess of the Ganges, might have gained their predictions
to Enlightenment.
Two of Earth Store
Bodhisattva's epiphanies as a Bodhisattva, came in the form of women: “the
Brahman Woman” and “Bright Eyes." Both women had found their strength
by tapping into the roots of their lives; they were “filial daughters.”
While their mothers were alive, both women related to them with gratitude and
honor. After their mothers died, the daughters’ extended their concern past
the grave.
They
sought the buddha's instruction on how they might continue to care for their
mothers into their next rebirth. The first time I read this account, I reflected
on how shallowly I had explored my own relationship with my parents. Although
the sutra was originally spoken in India of the Sixth Century BCE, it spoke
directly to my present situation. I believe it will do so for others, too;
hence, this welcome new contribution by Roshi Chozen Bays.
Seeing
Into the Shadow Side of Life
But
Earth Store also talks of hells in nightmarish proportions. This is Buddhism
with its eyes open, a religion that takes faith off the meditation cushion into
the night of the soul, wide-eyed and open-handed into humanity's griefs,
mistakes, broken hearts, and hurting wounds.
Earth
Store's Sutra takes us into the darker side of life's hidden but vital aspects.
He reveals the tormented minds and spirits of beings who have lost the Way, and
with therapeutic precision explains the causes for their grief. But the journey
to the dark underside has a compassionate purpose: to light the way out. Earth
Store extends a hand to pull us out of the cycle of negative karma driven by
delusion, that leads to more harmful deeds, and even further painful
retribution.
Anybody
who criticizes Buddhism as an escapist religion for people who want to avoid
reality simply hasn’t heard about Jizo. The Buddha, in telling the story of
Earth Store paints humankind in its full spectrum of colors, from radiant to
occluded. But this is not dour for dour's sake; nor intended to leave us with a
one-sided description of an ugly reality. It serves a healing purpose. The
Buddha Dharma, with its wholistic vision, gives methods for transforming
negative emotion, wrong perceptions, and harmful states of mind into wholesome
views, kindness, and deep wisdom.
In
the end, the Earth Store Sutra empowers us to fundamentally change our
actions, words, and thoughts, and in so doing take charge of our lives. Thus,
Jizo, is in every way an epic hero.
We
live in an age and a culture alienated from our roots as never before. In a time
of broken families and when children turn guns on classmates, this sutra’s
wisdom has, though sadly, never been more relevant. Earth Store is medicine for
the soul. It reminds us that our narrow focus on material things and sensory
stimulation blinds us to the joy and satisfaction available on every side. A
fullness of blessings lies beneath our feet and before our eyes, if only we take
the time to look.
This
scripture appeals to the rare individual who understands that the beauty of a
rose depends entirely on the "invisible" parts: the stem, the leaves,
the thorns, the stalk, the roots and the fertilizer, rain, sun, and the effort
of the gardener. Our later years comprise the longer half of life; and in many
ways the most valuable. Few, however, see anything but the blossom when they
look at a rose. Our culture is fixated on youth; we neglect our elders like
things stored in the attic; and dread our own aging as a curse. Earth Store once
again reminds us of the treasure trove right beneath our feet, right before our
eyes.
I
once asked my teacher in religion, Master Hsuan Hua, the monk who expounded
Earth Store's Dharma to the West in 1971,"If somebody wanted to repay
parents' kindness while they are still in the world, what would be the best way
to do it?"
Without
skipping a beat Master Hua replied," Explain the Earth Store Sutra
for your mother. That would pretty much repay her kindness in raising you."
Enlightened
Chan Masters Look for their Parents
After
years of perusing biographies of Buddhist masters and adepts, it has dawned on
me how in the Chinese tradition, most Chan Masters report that immediately after
their experience of awakening, the first thing they did was find a way to repay
their parents' kindness. From Mahamaudgalyayana, the Buddha's disciple who was
foremost in psychic powers, to Ming Dynasty Master Han Shan, all share a common
thread: to repay the kindness of parents. Coming to terms with this the most
fundamental of relationships seems to be a pressing priority for Chan Masters
when they view things through their newly enlightened eyes. The conclusions is
inescapable: the child/parent relationship is in some crucial way essential to
our spiritual journey.
Earth
Store is the Bodhisattva with the greatest filial regard. When s/he was a woman
she valued her first relationship, her root connection with his mother and
father. She thought to repay that debt of kindness for bringing her into the
world and giving her start as a human. Now, such sentiments seem hopelessly out
of sync and unhip. To stay home with the folks, to ask after their contentment
and to work for their comfort, at best becomes duty, at worst a burden. One must
wonder: why did the great Chan Masters, enlightened monks and nuns, immediately
upon awakening from ignorance and attachment, look for their parents, to see
into which realm they had been reborn? What lessons are we to learn from them
when they state, as they do in so many stories, that their purpose was to
"repay the kindness of their parents for making it possible for them to
hear the Dharma and realize liberation from lifetimes of birth and death?"
I think it's more than metaphor.
Sue
Ellen’s Reunion With Her Mom; Its Impact On Her Meditation.
I proposed a project
with the Vipassana group that meets each week at the Berkeley Monastery. I
suggested that the 80 or so regular meditators were to spend three visits with a
“significant elder,” of their choice; either a parent, grandparent, teacher,
neighbor, the closest Elder in their life. The task was to ask the Elder to
speak on their wisdom regarding the “next step in the journey.” I suggested
that they say, “I’m aging, too, and I could use some good words from your
current perspective about the journey into Elder status. Would you please tell
me how your spiritual path has developed?"
I said, "Visit
them three times and listen carefully to the concerns and the advice the Elder
provides."
Three weeks later we
gathered to hear the stories. One of the meditators, we’ll call her Sue Ellen,
explained her background:
“I
hadn’t talked with my mother for seven years. She and always disagreed about
my life and she had given me up as a lost cause. Something about this project
you gave us hit the right spot at just at the right time. Since I’ve been
meditating for six years, maybe I’ve gained a bit of stillness and composure.
Anyway I called my mother after I got home from class and she started right in
on me.
I
said, “Mom, you never change and I love you for it. I’m coming right
over.” I walked in her house, gave her a hug and we didn’t stop talking for
eight hours. The next morning she asked me to teach her to meditate.
Boy,
was I ready to reconnect with my mother. And the strangest thing, this week when
I went to meditate I discovered that my entire chest area from waist to
shoulders was warm, and flexible. Who would have thought that my estranged
relationship with my mother had frozen my heart? I had been meditating with a
block of ice in my chest. Now my sitting has come alive and I’m warm from toe
to crown.”
The urgings of Earth Store Bodhisattva, Jizo Bosatsu, to reconnect with our parents, still rings true and taps into our spiritual wellsprings. The ancients continue to remind us: the Dao is here in the world, in the careful and tender treatment of the things and people closest to us. Grafting our lives back into the network of humanity pumps tap water through our tree of wisdom. Read with joy and delight in this timeless story.