Ksitigarbha

The Sutra of The Great Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva can be found on the Wikipedia entry by clicking on the hypertext. You can find others by googling it. The mantra for Ksitibarbha is "om ksitigarbha bodhisattva yah", according to Teachers of Enlightenment.

I'm not sure when I'll get around to reading that, honestly. I "discovered" Ksitigarbha on retreat a few months ago. I'm just following up my interest when I was reading Teachers of Enlightenment about Milarepa and checked out the entry on Ksitigarbha, which led to Meeting The Buddhas and checking out the Ksitigarbha entry there. Meeting The Buddhas is an amazing book, about all the Bodhisattvas, the mythical personifications of the qualities of enlightenment. Teachers of Enlightenment is about the FWBO refuge tree, the people on it.

I'm reading 100,000 Songs of Milarepa right now. I'm on the amazing chapter 28 and 29, which are a real highlight for me. At times the songs can seem boastful or lists of lists, but others phrases will catch me and I will feels the greatness of his songs.

If you don't know anything about Milarepa, drop everything and read about him. He's got a cool life story and he's amazing. He should be part of any basic human cultural awareness, whether you're a Buddhist or not. Here is a version of his life story with pictures.

It's a huge book and I pick it up and put it down. I've been dragging my feet to write a review of The Yogi's Joy. I just feel overwhelmed by the greatness of the book. So I thought I would read through all of the songs just to give me the confidence to read the book a 3rd time, and really attempt a review.