A simple Koan. 

A camera man 
from the Campus Crusade for 
Christ, asked me if I 
have any questions 
for God.  I smiled at him, 
and inquired: 
“Is the Buddha in Hell?” 


In Chinese Buddhism the bodhisattva Dizangwang (地藏王)(translates as something like king of the earthly treasurehouse) has promised to postpone his enlightenment until every last suffering soul is freed from Hell. Nice going Dizangwang! Me next please!

dharmaraja, the Sanskrit name is Ksitagarbha and the Japanese form is Jizo. The name means "Treasury of Earth" but also "The Matrix of the World" or "The Womb of the World".

According to the Ksitagarbha sutra, Jizo appears in the naraka-gati or Realm of Utter Contraction (the realm of experiencing only fear or self-loathing, equivalent to a "hell" but temporary), but also in the realms of preta (hungry ghosts), animals, humans, asura (somewhat similiar to the Greek titans), and deva (shining ones or gods).

He/she/it represents the opportunity to always see another way out of the situations one creates for oneself and to choose it.

In Japan Jizo has become associated with tenderness and care for "water-babies", the term for aborted fetuses and their mothers. This is why statues of Jizo are so often seen surrounded by offerings of small toys and are sometimes draped with a red bib.

Sadly, until very recently, abortion was often the only accessible means of birth control available to Japanese women except abstinence. And abstinence was not always available as a choice, especially for young married women.

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