The World of Great Vows

Among the commonly known sutras, The Sutra of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s Fundamental Vows is considered one of the easiest to understand.

In the sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha expounded on the various stories of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva when He was born in the human realm, and why He made the great aspiration lifetime after lifetime.

Through asking and answering, we learn from the sutra the causes and effects of being reborn in Hell, the methods of repentance, salvation of one’s suffering kins and liberation from Six Realms. Lord Buddha also taught us the Dharma practices of Safe Travels, Memory Strengthening and Wish Fulfilling etc.

Having studied Buddhism for so many years, I have a deeper realisation every year I recite this sutra.

If after reading a sutra, the sutra remains the sutra, while you remains you, with no improvement or betterment, it’s not because the sutra is useless. But because you have yet to put in your heart to delve deep into the sutra. You only read it at the surface and your eyes skim past it.

Perhaps the reader has yet to experience suffering and naturally is unable to develop renunciation, hence there is a tendency to read a sutra like a storybook, or even lose interest halfway.

The purpose of Dharma is to correct our minds. This Buddhist comic is brilliantly drawn, but if you indulge in the colourful pages and miss the authentic Dharma in the sutra, then you would have missed the boat of opportunities.

Thank you to the readers who took part in my book giving. If you do not receive the book within a week (10 working days for overseas recipients), that means the book had been fully given out at the time of your application.

Taking this photo was a little bit tough, because the comic books in hand totalled 6500 over pages, weighing about 9kg. Did not help that the husband was slow with the camera. 😄

In the list of sign-ups, there were names that I would not wish to send the book. There are people who never say a word of thank-you (and other issues), despite receiving 7-8 such Buddhist books from me. There are also people who are making use of Buddhism to fulfil their pursuits of vanity metrics, wealth and fame. An ungrateful person will never be sincere in treating other people well. The person who exploits the compassion of Buddhists has yet to feel remorse.

Given my character, I would think I might as well give the book to others, letting others have the affinity. But I remember how Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva took up the great responsibility Buddha bestowed upon Him, and did it so unhurriedly. So let’s give one more chance.

Wishing you multitude of benefits upon opening this book.

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