Jizo Bodhisattva

by Jan Chozen Bays

  1. We are human, with bodies that become ill, deteriorate, and die.

  2. We don’t like the way things are (= aversion or anger).

  3. We like the way things are and we don’t want them to change (= clinging or desire).

  4. We try to deny the truth of cause and effect and impermanence (= ignorance).

  These four reasons seem simple but are quite profound. If we could accept impermanence completely and live within its stream, we would find ease and contentment. If we could drop our clinging to a self- and personality-centered view, we could come into our birthright—an inheritance of joy and wisdom.

  There are many beliefs about the treasures stored in the body of the Earth. Some people believe that the treasures are limited and some day will be used up. Others believe that the treasures are unlimited, self-renewing, and cannot be used up. Some people believe that the treasure belongs to one human or group of humans.

  We have similar beliefs about our own life. It is a treasure that is limited and one day will be used up. It is also a treasure that is unlimited, self-renewing, and inexhaustible. Our life belongs only to us or it belongs to all. This is what the Buddha called “a wilderness of views.”

  As Jizo Bodhisattva descends into the realms of hell to rescue the treasure, the potential Buddhas, who are trapped there, so we make our way through the thicket of views, probe the realms of anger, desire, and delusion hidden in our own minds and hearts, in order to rescue the treasure that we call our Buddha nature. Only when we advance beyond all opinions and views can we enter the spacious treasury of true reality. Once this treasure house has opened, its wealth is available for us to use at will. Its use will bring benefit to all. This is the reason we practice.

  chapter twelve

  Practicing with Jizo Bodhisattva

  The Buddha said, “Manjushri, the awesome spirit and vows of this Bodhisattva are beyond thought. If good men or women in the future hear this Bodhisattva’s name, praise him, regard and worship him, make offerings to him, or if they draw, carve, cast, sculpt or lacquer his image, they will be born among the Heaven of the Thirty-Three one hundred times, and will never again fall into the Evil paths. ”

  Sutra of the Past vow of

  Earth Store Bodhisattva

  Reciting the Name of Jizo

  The Chinese Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva and the Japanese Sutra on the Bodhisattva Enmei Jizo tell of a number of ways to practice with Jizo Bodhisattva. The simplest is recitation of the name of Jizo or of the Jizo Dharani. In the sutra the Buddha asks Jizo Bodhisattva to help people who make the effort of even calling his name.

  Earth Store Bodhisattva, in the future there will be people who are headed for suffering because of the unwholesome deeds they have done or people who are on the verge, at the gates of doing unwholesome acts. If these people recite the name of one Buddha or Bodhisattva or a single sentence from a sutra, please manifest your unlimited body, smash the hells they are about to enter and help them arrive at the place of boundless joy.

  The practice of reciting the name is done by chanting the name of Jizo either aloud or silently as many as ten thousand times in a day. You can use a mala, or rosary, saying the name once as each bead passes between the fingers. Any of Jizo Bodhisattva’s names can be used. Traditionally the name is prefaced with the Sanskrit word Namo, which means “Praise to,” “I take refuge in,” “Homage to,” or “Becoming one with . . .” Here are examples of how the name can be recited:

  Namo Earth Store Bodhisattva

  or

  Namo Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva

  or

  I take refuge in Jizo Bodhisattva

  or

  Homage to Jizo Bosatsu, King of All Vows

  Reciting the Jizo Dharani

  Reciting the name of Jizo is a form of mantra or dharani practice. A mantra or dharani is a group of syllables whose recitation brings spiritual benefit. A dharani is usually longer than a mantra. The dharani for Jizo Bodhisattva in Japanese is:

  OM-KA-KA-KABI-SAN-MA-EI-SOHA-KA

  In Sanskrit it is:

  OM-HA-HA-HA-VIS-MA-YE-SVA-HA

  Om is a mantra by itself and a common opening word in many longer mantras. To chant “Om” invokes our awareness of the presence of absolute perfection within the relative world of our everyday life activity. Sohaka (Sanskrit, svaha) is a common ending phrase meaning “so be it,” “may it endure,” or “may good arise from this!” The syllables between om and sohaka (or svaha) invoke Jizo Bodhisattva. The entire mantra thus helps us stop and become aware of the perfection of this moment, asks that the energies of Jizo Bodhisattva enter our lives, and ends with a confident benediction. The Jizo dharani is short enough to memorize easily. It can be chanted three, seven, or nine times, or recited continuously in times of greater distress and need. Vary the speed of the chanting until you find the pace that works best to slow and calm the mind. During seated meditation you can say the Jizo mantra or dharani silently, one time with each out breath. Rest in the quiet mind during the in breath.

  Ka is a germ or seed syllable (Sanskrit, bija; Japanese, shuji) containing the power of a whole mantra or deity. The Sanskrit character “Ka” represents Kshitigarbha in esoteric Buddhism. In the Japanese esoteric sect of Shingon, the Sanskrit letter “A,” a symbol of the ultimate reality we emerge from and return to, is written on thin wooden plaques marking graves. When a child dies, “Ka” is written on the top of the plaque, invoking Kshitigarbha’s protection for the helpless little one who has left this life.

  How can reciting the name of Jizo or the Jizo dharani bring spiritual benefit and help free us from hells we are about to enter? A mantra inducts us into meditative state. If the mind is busy with discursive thought, reciting a mantra continuously and with attention can clear the mind. A mantra stops the action of the mind at the first nen, the first movement of thought. In the first nen the mind is in the present moment. As soon as thoughts branch out into the second nen, third nen, and so on, we are ruminating over the past and anxious for the future. A mantra holds the mind in the present moment where it finds rest.

  A mantra that is not an English word (or a word in any language you understand) is the best. The difference becomes clear if you meditate on the word “sad” saying it silently on each out breath for about twenty breaths. Then change to the syllable “Om” for about twenty breaths. The intellectual mind links a word it knows like “sad” with a chain of old memories and emotions that sweep us away from now and here. The mind tries to grapple with the unknown word of a mantra and cannot, so it relaxes while staying alert for possible meaning. A mantra thumbtacks the mind to this place of life, the present moment.

  Jizo’s seed symbol KA.

  A mantra or dharani can be especially effective in times of emotional distress. When a calamity has occurred—we lose a job, a lover leaves, a parent or child dies—the mind becomes distraught and obsessed. In our fear and grief the mind becomes a wailing, chaotic thing at a time when we most need to rest and have clarity. This is when a mantra can help. The Buddha gave a series of prescriptions for the unquiet mind including distracting it, substituting something more wholesome for it to think on, or, finally, crushing the thoughts. Chanting a holy name or a mantra can do all of these. Chanted quietly internally it distracts and calms, chanted out loud and powerfully it can crush thought.

  If the mantra is chanted aloud, the musical tone resonates in the body. The syllable Ah is said to be the sound of the fundamental energy of all created things. The musical note “A” on the Western scale is said to be the fundamental tone of this resonance, with harmonics unfolding in an array around it.

  When the name of Jizo Bodhisattva or the dharani is recited wholeheartedly, the sound vibrations interact with the body/ heart/mind to unfold certain expanded states of awareness. As we experience these states we become aware, even faintly, of the vast clear consciousness of beings we call Buddhas and bodhisattvas. We are inspired to continue to practice until our awa
reness opens into theirs.

  Making a Vow

  Shakyamuni Buddha said, “Earth Store, I now carefully entrust the multitudes of men and gods of the future to you. If they plant good roots in the Buddha Dharma, be they as little as a hair, dust mote, grain of sand or drop of water, please use your spiritual powers and virtues to protect them so that they gradually cultivate the unsurpassed way and do not retreat from it.”

  Kshitigarbha knelt down with clasped hands and spoke to Shakyamuni Buddha, “Honored of the World, please do not be worried. If good men and women in the future have even a single thought of respect for the Buddha’s teachings, I shall use hundreds of thousands of expedient devices to lead them out of the suffering of constant Birth and Death to liberation. Those who have heard of good deeds and practiced them I will help to proceed to Buddhahood without falling back.”

  The Earth Store Sutra tells of ordinary human beings becoming bodhisattvas through the power of their vows. My teachers talked often about the importance of making vows. It took me many years to understand that vows are at the core of practice, actually are the “nuclear” core of the energy pile that is our life. An interviewer once asked Maezumi Roshi if Buddhists believed in something like a soul that continued after death. Maezumi Roshi said, “No. It is the vow that continues.” A vow is like a seal that imprints itself on the wet clay of another emerging life, but it is more than a passive seal. It has a propelling energy. It propels us into the search for an end to suffering and into finding ways to help others. Finally, when all the various schemes we have developed to do those things fail, it propels us into practice.

  All Buddhist practices involve vows. At the Zen Center we chant the Four Great Bodhisattva Vows every day:

  Beings are numberless, I vow to free them.

  Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them.

  Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them.

  Buddha’s way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it.

  Over the years we have chanted vows like these hundreds, thousands of times. It does not matter if the vows were made when we were half-asleep or if we didn’t quite understand them. We have made these promises and now the jig is up, the promissory note is due. This explains the common feeling people have. “I don’t know why I practice, I just have to.” “Something is compelling me to do this practice.” The ongoing vow operates below the conscious mind.

  It is very important to shape and say our vows. Maezumi Roshi recommended starting each day with vows. There are many possible vows. They can be a simple. “I vow to do what I can to relieve suffering.” “I vow to do what needs to be done to awaken fully, even if I’m afraid at times.” “I vow to open my mind and hands and let go of what needs to be dropped for me and others to be free.” Vows can be formal and part of a ritual. They can be simple and spontaneous. What is important is to vow. At that point the things that are needed for the vow to be fulfilled begin to flow toward us.

  Jizo Bodhisattva is called the King of Vows. When we call upon the power of Jizo we are calling upon the power in each one of us that is always urging us in the direction of fulfilling our life vow or purpose. For all of us the fundamental vow is actually the same, to uncover and embody our innate wisdom and compassion. For each of us the specific situation that helps us with the uncovering and the embodying is different. It could be having a difficult child, caring for an elderly parent, working an extra job to earn money for retreats, or driving a city bus in a poor part of the city. When we are in the midst of these specifics, we often lose track of our larger purpose. We get angry or impatient and feel like we are failing. This is the time to call upon Jizo Bodhisattva.

  Calling upon Jizo Bodhisattva

  The Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra tells of the benefits of calling on Jizo for help.

  There are people who have insufficient clothing and food, who are sick and fall into bad luck, whose families quarrel, whose relatives are scattered, whose sleep is poor because of nightmares. If they hear the name or see an image of Earth Store Bodhisattva and recite his name with sincerity and respect ten thousand times, these problems will disappear. Their needs will be supplied and they will become peaceful and happy even in their dreams.

  If men or women must enter mountain forests, cross over rivers, or seas, or travel on dangerous roads in order to earn a living, or because of the public good, or because of urgent matters of life and death, they should first recite the name of Earth Store Bodhisattva a full ten thousand times. The ghosts and spirits of the ground they pass over will surround and protect them as they walk, stand, sit, and lie down.

  jizo if the Night, who watches over those who cry out and suffer alone in the dark. Print by the author.

  Reciting the name of Jizo or the Jizo dharani is putting forth a request for help—help in attaining that great awareness that creates bodhisattvas from ordinary humans. However, if it is true that our own thoughts, speech, and actions can either keep us trapped in the maze of the six realms or can place us on the path that leads out of that maze, where is there a place for Jizo Bodhisattva? Is salvation only a pull-myself-up-by-my-own-bootstraps-and-sheer-force-of-will operation or is there “another,” unseen by our ordinary eyes, that we can call on for help?

  Our experience of reality is very confined. Evidence of this is all around us. For example, we cannot hear many sounds dogs respond to and we cannot see the infrared patterns on flowers that provide information to birds and moths. In the air all around us is an invisible energy flow filled with pictures, sounds, and other information. If we have the right receiving equipment we can perceive these as “real” things such as radar signals, television soap tragedies, radio news programs, and cellular phone calls between lovers or to 911 for emergency help. It is obvious that there is a great deal of hidden information, many unnoticed forces and unseen existences around us all the time.

  There is a story from the time of the Buddha about this. Mogallana, one of the Buddha’s chief disciples, descended from Vulture Peak for alms rounds. At a certain place in the road he smiled for no apparent reason. His companion monk was puzzled and asked the reason. Mogallana told him he would explain what had happened when they were in the presence of the Buddha. When they had rejoined the Buddha, the monk again asked Mogallana the reason for his smile. Mogallana said he had seen miserable ghosts flying through the air. They had many forms: a skeleton, a lump of flesh, a man eating dung, a man pierced by his hair which was made of needles. He had smiled in wonder at being able to see the working of karma that created these experiences. The other monks accused Mogallana of claiming “further powers,” that is, of being more enlightened than he was, but the Buddha verified that what Mogallana had seen was indeed true and was therefore not cause for either jealousy or blame.

  If there are unseen energies and beings around us, if some of these are able to assist us in our spiritual quest, and if we do not call on them for aid, is that not the height of pride, the kind of hubris that characterizes the realm of the gods and leads to their downfall? Buddhists in Japan talk of jinriki, “self power,” and tanriki, “other power” or “power from the other side.” This “other side” is not outside of our self; it is just currently hidden from us by our clouded perception, just as the beings and karmic forces the Buddha and Mogallana saw were hidden from the perception of the other monks. When this other side is concealed, we have to call upon it in faith. Its hidden nature helps to develop and strengthen our faith-mind. We are calling to—and thus calling forth—Jizo Bodhisattva.

  A dedication for our chants says, “When this request is sent forth it is perceived and subtly answered.” That a response comes is not a matter of belief. It is simply a matter of physics, of cause and effect. It is the “subtly answered” part that is tricky. Sometimes the answer is so subtle we miss it if we’re not alert, and sometimes it seems to come from a source with a warm but wicked sense of humor.

  We are told that Jizo responds to those who call upon her with single-mind
ed devotion. Because we cannot know all of the causes that are producing a certain effect, and because we do not usually know what barrier within ourselves or others is preventing a certain effect, we call on Jizo with a simple and humble faith. Jizo is said to open people’s hearts to be able to see their wrongdoing and its cause. This faith is simple because we ourselves are simple; we are just one tiny birth-and-death interval manifesting from the eternal Whole. This faith is humble because we are immensely fortunate. As we open more fully to the great Whole so also opens our awe and gratitude to be manifesting as the very body-mind of the Whole.

  As we call upon Jizo we may envision what this bodhisattva might look like. How would great wisdom and compassion appear when embodied in a human body? How do our own body, mind, and heart appear when wisdom and compassion manifest fully?

  Making Offerings to Jizo Bodhisattva

  Wholeheartedly make offerings to Earth Store Bodhisattva using scented flowers, incense, food, drink, clothing, colored silks, banners with sacred texts, money, jewels, . . . lighting oil lamps, reciting the holy sutras . . .

  Another practice recommended in the Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra is making offerings. We are used to buying and reserving the best things for ourselves. We spend time and money on favorite foods, on clothing that we think makes us look attractive, on jewelry or expensive watches, and in fixing up our homes. This fundamentally selfish orientation begins early, as part of an ancient survival drive. We watch our mother carefully as she cuts a cake. Who will get the biggest piece? My mother solved this by making one girl cut, the other choose the first piece. A difficult choice: should I follow my instincts and choose the biggest piece or demonstrate my unselfish nature for all to see by taking the smaller? This selfish stance dissolves only when we really love someone. Our in-turned energy flows outward; their happiness comes first. We are glad to give them a gift—the biggest piece.