Grateful for the empowerment of the Buddha! I departed riding a white lotus flower.
“Amitabha!” I, Ayù, pressed my palms together in greeting to the Magistrate. “Magistrate, may I witness how Earth Store Bodhisattva rescues beings from suffering within the hells today?”
The Magistrate replied, “Earth Store Bodhisattva manifests many division bodies, laboring to relieve suffering in numerous great and small hells. Which hell would you wish to observe, Ayù?”
“In the human world, I have heard that Earth Store Bodhisattva has three transformation bodies: one within the hells, one in the human realm, and one in the heaven realms. Is this accurate?”
The Magistrate said: “Earth Store Bodhisattva is a great Bodhisattva who uttered the vast vow: ‘I vow not to attain Buddhahood until the hells are emptied.’ Although the hells have not yet been emptied, the Bodhisattva’s merits and virtues are already fully perfected. The Bodhisattva saves and takes across living beings not only in the hells, the human world and the heaven realm, but also sends forth division bodies to other remote hells to save and take across the afflicted living beings there. The living beings in those distant hells must likewise be liberated, and the Bodhisattva manifests division bodies to rescue living beings across other times and dimensions. The Bodhisattva has far more than three division bodies. He possesses hundreds of millions upon billions of division bodies, and each division body travels to different worlds to liberate all sentient beings. Earth Store Bodhisattva holds a special karmic affinity with the living beings in the human world, for the majority of beings falling into the hells originate from the human world. For this reason, we ought to be thankful for the Bodhisattva’s compassionate teachings.
“Many transformation bodies of Earth Store Bodhisattva dwell in the human world. Some have only recently been reborn and are under three years old; some are still studying; others have grown to adulthood. In time, they will quietly carry forward the work of the Buddha’s wisdom-life and guide all sentient beings according to conditions. Certain transformation bodies of the Bodhisattva guide beings humbly through their entire lives, unknown to the world. Others establish Dharma centres to propagate the true Dharma. Every such manifestation comes about through the subtle arrangement of the Bodhisattva.
“There may well be those transformation bodies of Earth Store Bodhisattva near us, subtly influencing others and setting an example, silently teaching us to rectify our flawed dispositions. Yet we cannot recognise the Bodhisattva, mistaking such great beings for ordinary mortals, and the Bodhisattva will never reveal his identity. We must learn from Earth Store Bodhisattva to cultivate vast aspirations. Having vowed to liberate living beings, the Bodhisattva acts upon this vow. Thus the Bodhisattva’s mind pervades the ten directions and all space of the Dharma realm, and so too does his vow. His vow endures without end, even if empty space itself should come to an end. Take the vow to give alms to beggars as an example. Though one makes the vow once, the practice of giving occurs innumerable times, and continues lifetime after lifetime. The moment one forms this vow, the seed of almsgiving to beggars abides within one’s mind across all lifetimes. The vow is singular; the practices are manifold. If one encounters a beggar yet withholds generosity, one goes against one’s own vow. One should emulate Earth Store Bodhisattva and form virtuous vows to liberate living beings. Every thought of his acts is in accordance with his vow. If one upholds one’s vow in every thought, one will attain accomplishment time and again. Sustained repeated accomplishments bring forth spiritual power. The more living beings one liberates, the greater one’s spiritual power and the power of one’s blessings and virtues. When one continuously strives to liberate living beings thought after thought, one’s spiritual power becomes boundless. With boundless spiritual power, one can manifest boundless bodies, travelling to boundless realms to liberate living beings.
“In our hells, there are even more transformation bodies of Earth Store Bodhisattva. You visited the Hall of Initial Turning of Nether Radiance last time. Earth Store Bodhisattva gives three Dharma talks in hell each day: in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. When condemned souls hear the Dharma, their roots of goodness begin to sprout, and remorse arises in their minds as these good roots emerge. The moment they feel remorse, Earth Store Bodhisattva delivers them out of the hell. There is another circumstance: if a condemned soul possesses sufficient blessings, Earth Store Bodhisattva will manifest a division body beside the condemned soul to guide and save them. This is one of the ways Earth Store Bodhisattva liberates living beings in the hells. Every day, Earth Store Bodhisattva successfully delivers countless condemned souls from the hells. Were it not for the salvation granted by Earth Store Bodhisattva to suffering beings in the hells, who knows how many times greater their numbers might be.
“There is yet another case: Earth Store Bodhisattva also arranges to rescue the deceased relatives of condemned souls according to how filial their descendants are in the mortal world. If descendants living in the human realm recite the Earth Store Sutra, chant the name of Earth Store Bodhisattva, pay homage to the Buddhas, make offerings to the Buddhas, release living creatures, print Buddhist sutras and virtuous books to guide the world, aid widows, orphans and the poor, and perform all other deeds that lead people toward goodness, cultivate goodness, and accumulate virtue, when these descendants dedicate the meritorious virtue from such good deeds to their ancestors suffering in the hells, the Bodhisattva will arrange for those sinful ancestors to be rescued from the hells.
“Earth Store Bodhisattva also observes whether a condemned soul has fully ripened the karmic conditions for deliverance. Some condemned souls have no descendants or relatives to perform virtuous deeds and transfer meritorious virtue for their liberation, yet they possess some good roots, blessings, virtues and virtuous conditions from past lifetimes. For instance, many left-home people fell into the hells after breaking the precepts, yet there were times when they upheld the precepts purely and practiced good deeds in the past. Others once gazed upon the Bodhisattva with a single thought, quietly listened to the Dharma for a fleeting moment, or chanted the holy name of Earth Store Bodhisattva. For such living beings, the Bodhisattva comes uninvited to teach and transform them.”