Research on the Dizang Sutra

Author: Wu Xinru and others
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-05-01
Features: In the True Dharma of Shakyamuni, Manjushri represents great wisdom, Samantabhadra represents great action, Maitreya represents great compassion, Avalokite?vara represents great mercy, and only K?itigarbha represents great vows. "I will not enter hell until someone else does"; "Until hell is empty, I will not become a Buddha"; "To save all beings across the six paths, yet none are truly to be saved." Such great vows are the fusion of great wisdom, great action, great compassion, and great mercy, the vow that addresses the needs of all beings in the Six Paths of the Saha World. They are both the ideal of the Buddha and the common aspiration of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, which is why the Buddha earnestly entrusts K?itigarbha with the Six Paths of beings. Only the great vow of K?itigarbha Bodhisattva is expressed through a special vow realm to represent the unique vows of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, just as Samantabhadra represents the universal vows of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas through his special great action. Thus, they are both called the "King of Great Vows." The principle of Dependent Origination and Emptiness is the fundamental teaching of Buddhism. The Dharma of K?itigarbha Bodhisattva takes the salvation of beings across the Six Paths as the vow realm, proving the emptiness and non-emptiness of Praj?ā through the causal origination of actions. Offering to the heavens and bestowing to the earth is the fundamental practice of Buddhism. The Dharma of K?itigarbha Bodhisattva takes the practice of offerings and charity for one's parents in the past seven lifetimes as the vow realm, fundamentally teaching filial piety, charity, vows, and faith, guiding people to be down-to-earth and practice immediately. Therefore, the Dharma of K?itigarbha is a great Dharma that perfectly integrates the small and large, esoteric and exoteric, worldly and transcendent.
The Sutra on the Great Vows of K?itigarbha Bodhisattva has been translated into Chinese since the Tang Dynasty by ?ījīnānudatta and has been passed down from generation to generation. After the development of the K?itigarbha pilgrimage site on Mount Jiuhua, the belief in K?itigarbha has become increasingly widespread, and the influence of the Dharma of K?itigarbha has grown as well. However, in the past, its propagation was either classified as Hinayana or included in the esoteric texts. Only Qingling Luan classified it as belonging to the Lotus Sutra but before the Nirvana Sutra and provided annotations, which were quite appropriate. In modern times, due to skepticism about ancient texts, it was doubted to be a spurious scripture, and believers did not accept it. Gu Jingyuan, the head of the two academies, vowed to propagate the Dharma of K?itigarbha to honor his deceased mother and brother, and thus wrote A Brief Explanation of the Great Vows of K?itigarbha Bodhisattva and A Brief Explanation of the Sutra on the Great Vows of K?itigarbha Bodhisattva. He illuminated the profound and obscure aspects of the Dharma of K?itigarbha, revealing what was previously unexplored, making it the fundamental text for practicing the Dharma of K?itigarbha. I have also served as a teacher and practitioner of this Dharma, and the experiences have been truly real and unshakable.
In the summer of 1995, at the request of Venerable Jinghui, I lectured on the Dharma of K?itigarbha at Bailing Temple in Zhao County, Hebei. Lady Lai Xiaomei compiled the lectures based on the recordings, and Mr. Li Jiazhen, Mr. Xu Sunming, Mr. Hu Weixin, Mr. Yue Xiaoding, and Mr. Lin Xiangdong proofread and formatted the text. With the support of Venerable Mengyi and Mr. Luo Guotian, the Lectures on the Sutra on the Great Vows of K?itigarbha Bodhisattva was finally completed, serving as a supplement to Venerable Gu's Brief Explanation. I have combined the Brief Explanation and the Lectures into this volume, Studies on the Dharma of K?itigarbha, as an offering to repay all kindnesses and to express gratitude to all involved. May any merits be shared by all.