Buddhist Adventures
lobster
Crusty Veteran
There I was breaking in my new boots by walking from London Bridge to Greenwich, when almost at the Cutty Sark, I came across Kshitigarbha. He was in a former restaurant, that is in the process of moving upstairs. His mantra is Om! Ha ha ha! O wondrous one! svāhā! He is the one with the weird stick, which he uses on his jaunts to hell. My kinda guy. What a gal!
In the Kṣitigarbha Sūtra, the Buddha states that in the distant past eons, Ksitigarbha was a maiden of the Brahmin caste by the name of Sacred Girl. She was deeply troubled when her mother died, because she had often been slanderous towards the Three Jewels. To save her from the great tortures of hell, the girl sold whatever she had and used the money to buy offerings that she offered daily to the Buddha of her time, known as the Buddha of the Flower of Meditation and Enlightenment. She prayed fervently that her mother be spared the pains of hell and appealed to the Buddha for help.
What Buddhist adventures can you share? I am now on the search for two of the Buddha's disciples, Khujjuttarà who was a hunchback and Bhaddiya who was a dwarf. Both enlightened incidentally ...
Comments
@lobster. Found a pretty cool site. You might enjoy chinatownology.com/ksitagarbha.html.
^^. Thanks for the kind thought, the link does not work for me. I managed to find the site but not the Ksitagarbha page.
I had much the same adventures in the Buddha shop. The first person I spoke to told me every statue from Kwan Yin to Hotei/Laughing Buddha/Maitriya to Ksitagarbha was 'Budd Ha'. Sadly my Mandarin study was of no help. The next person spoke more English but had to look up the name of Ksitagarbha on their smart phone. However the statues were not for sale. Que? Finally got a price on a small Ksitagarbha. Which was very reasonable compared with some dharma centres.
I tend to get my statues from market stalls, junk shops, profit worshippers and other unbelievers. Think I might go find some Buddha in the form of incense. Gonna be a hot day for the London Dharmakaya ...
It is a grand adventure to find that which we have an affinity with. What we will acquire only eventually to give to another. May the circle be unbroken.
There I was at my local temple, which is undergoing roof repairs ...
This impoverished shed is owned by the King of Thailand, which used to be Yul Brynner, not sure who it is now ...
Apart from being greeted kindly by monks wishing me 'good morning' and helpful tourists reminding me of the peacefulness, I was able to find some calm by visiting the nearby Womble sanctuary of Wimbledon Common.
I also noticed the next door neighbours were building a tree house. Wonderful. The Pope (a sort of Christian Dalai Lama) has his London residence nearby. The grounds of the temple also include an artificial pond for boat trips. DisneyWorld DharmaWorld - fun for everyone ...