Jizo-bosatsu
Jizo-bosatsu East AsiaTi-tsang of China, Jizo of Japan—the bodhisattva Ksitigarbha—wanders eternally through the realms of hell, comforting tortured souls and rescuing them from darkness by his very presence. Ksitigarbha, ‘he whose womb was the earth’, does not seem to have been a popular bodhisattva in India, where he appeared at a comparatively late date, but his association with the judgement of the dead greatly attracted Chinese Buddhists. Ti-tsang, and later Jizo, became the counsel for the dead and their consoler. He is usually depicted as a gentle-faced monk with a shaven head, dressed in a long robe and holding a staff with clattering rings on one end. The staff–originally called a khakkhara in India, on account of the khak sound it made–announces the otherwise silent mendicant as he walks along the street or comes with his begging-bowl for his daily meal. The Buddhist monk never asks for alms, nor does he acknowledge them. The only sound...
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