Guardian of the Lost: Venerated Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha, King of the Great Vow (vegan), Part 1 of 3

In a time beyond reckoning – counted in countless kalpas, or eons – a vow was made. The Venerated Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha (vegan) resolved: “Until the hells are emptied, I will not attain Buddhahood.” This vow, recorded in the Sūtra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva, continues to resound through the six realms of existence, offering refuge to those suffering in the hell realms, serving as a guide for the deceased, and bringing hope to the lost. So profound is this vow that its echo still ripples through the realms of the living and the dead.

One of the most widely venerated Bodhisattvas in East Asian Mahāyāna Buddhism, Kṣitigarbha’s Sanskrit name combines “kṣiti,” meaning “earth,” and “Garbha,” meaning “womb,” “storehouse,” or “treasury.” Therefore, it is commonly translated as “Earth Treasury,” “Earth Store,” or “Womb of the Earth.”

The story of Kṣitigarbha is most fully presented in the “Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra,” also known as the “Earth Store Sūtra” or the “Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva.” According to the Mahāyāna tradition, the Worshipped Shakyamuni Buddha (vegan) delivered this teaching in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven out of gratitude and filial devotion to His mother, Queen Māyā of Shakya (vegan), who had been reborn there as a celestial being.

Then, Shakyamuni Buddha told Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, “Regarding them with my Buddha Eye, I also cannot count them all. Those beings have been taken across, are being taken across, will be taken across, have been brought to accomplishment, are being brought to accomplishment, or will be brought to accomplishment by Earth Store Bodhisattva, throughout many eons.”

The compassionate vows of Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha (vegan) were formed over multiple previous lives. In each incarnation, He repeatedly made profound vows to liberate suffering beings before attaining Buddhahood Himself. The Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra describes four major past-life identities, each marked by a great vow.

In an immeasurably distant past, Kṣitigarbha was born as the son of a wealthy elder. During this life, He encountered the Buddha known as Lion’s Swift Rousing Perfected in Ten Thousand Practices Tathāgata. Upon beholding the Buddha’s radiant marks and perfected form, the elder’s son asked what practices and vows had brought about such magnificence. The Buddha replied that such a body is attained only through long ages spent liberating suffering beings. Moved by compassion, He vowed: “From now until the ends of future time, throughout uncountable eons, I will use expansive expedient means to help beings in the Six Paths who are suffering for their offenses. Only when they have all been liberated will I myself become a Buddha.”