A good sacrifice inspires;
A poor sacrifice in vain.
- Stonepeace | Get Books
A
thousand years ago in Anwa there was a woman who believed in Jizo
[Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva; Dizang Pusa] and prayed that she might have an
image of the Bodhisattva in her house to make offerings to. One day she
found an old wooden Jizo in the river in front of her house. She
rejoiced and prayed to this Jizo every morning and evening to be granted
a child. She became pregnant and delivered a boy, but when he was four
years old, she suddenly died. Her husband took a second wife who was
very cruel to the little boy. The child had learned from his mother to
pray to Jizo. One day when his father was away he took a little rice
and, weeping for his dead mother, offered it to Jizo and to his mother’s
memorial tablet at the family shrine. When the stepmother came into the
house she found the child kneeling before the shrine and flew into a
rage. She seized the boy and threw him into a kettle that was boiling
over the fire.
At that moment the father, who was traveling on a road, became very
confused and was unable to go on. He felt compelled to return home. As
he turned back he saw a Buddhist monk standing by the road with a child
on his back who cried out with a voice that he recognized. It was the
voice of his own son! The man asked who this child was. The monk
answered, “I have substituted my own body for this child when his
stepmother was about to kill him. You must entrust him to other people
who will raise and educate him well.” He put the child in the arms of
his frightened father. The man asked the monk where he lived. The monk
replied, “Near the Temple of the Repository King.” and disappeared into
thin air.
After giving his son over to care of kind friends the father returned
home. There he found his wife stoking the fire under a kettle. When she
saw her husband she quickly put out the fire and became quite
distressed. He asked her, “Where is my son?” Pretending grief she told
him that the boy had been playing by the river and had drowned. The man
strode to the kettle and took off the lid. There he found the old wooden
Jizo floating in the boiling water. He realized the terrible thing his
wife had done and saw that indeed Jizo had changed places with his son
to save the boy’s life. Weeping bitterly he left the life of a
householder and became a monk. From that time forth he was utterly
devoted to Jizo Bodhisattva.
Jan Chozen Bays
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2013/11/how-ksitigarbha-bodhisattva-saved-a-boy/