water and holes in his hands

so i'm thinking of buddhas and humming the song "sons and daughters of hungry ghosts," and just then i run across the ida b. wells memorial sutra library - sometimes it just slams on the synchronizer and comes all together at once.

this is where i found the Ghost-King Sutra: it's part of the [very long] Sutra Of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha's Fundamental Vows.

This is how Buddha instructed the bodhisattva
Ksitigarbha about a Ghost King.


a real place, ksitigarbha's temple, in taiwan.
i say his name "kitsa-garbo."

At one time, many ghost kings came to Heaven, to the heaven where Buddha was teaching the Bodhisattva named Ksitigarbha. Those who came included
Evil Poison Ghost King,
Evil Doing Ghost King, Dispute Ghost King,
White Tiger Ghost King, Blood Tiger Ghost King,
Red Tiger Contagious Ghost King,
Disaster Ghost King, Flying Body Ghost King,
Lightning Flash Ghost King, Wolf Teeth Ghost King,
Thousand Eyes Ghost King, Eating Beast Ghost King,
Rock-Carrying Ghost King, Exhaustion Ghost King,
Calamity Ghost King,
Food Ghost King, Wealth Ghost King,
Domestic Animal Ghost King,
Mountain Spirit Ghost King,
Birth Ghost King, Life Ghost King,
Disease Ghost King, Danger Ghost King,
Three Eyes Ghost King, Four Eyes Ghost King,
Five Eyes Ghost King,
the Fire Spirit King, the Dharma Protector King, and so on.
There were major and minor ghost kings who live in all the worlds and rule over specific areas. These ghost kings all came to the Buddha's assembly, and reverently stood beside the Bodhisattva.

A Ghost King named Life addressed Buddha, saying, "World-Honored One, I am in charge of humans' lives. Fundamentally, I am willing to help them. But they have little happiness and peace when dying. Why should this be?

"I vow to help those who are about to die, regardless of whether they are good or evil. World-Honored One, when men or women are going to die, they are incapable of clear thinking, they cannot tell good from bad, their eyes are unable to see and their ears are unable to hear.

"If only their relatives will pray for them and recite scriptures, then the dead people will be turned away from evil, and all devils and ghosts will retreat from them. World-Honored One, if anyone who is about to die hears a Buddha's or a Bodhisattva's name, these people can be preserved from all evils immediately."

Buddha said to Life Ghost King, "You have great benevolence to make such a great vow to protect all beings, both dying and dead. In future generations whenever anyone faces death, do not forget the vow you have made, and release all the beings from hardships, and allow them to observe happiness and peace."

The ghost king replied to Buddha, "Do not be concerned. I shall do my best to protect all the beings in all the worlds."

And Buddha told the Bodhisattva, "This Ghost King has already supported and protected all beings at death. At this time, he is a Ghost King named Life, but eons from now, in an eon named Tranquility, he will be a Buddha named No-Appearance-Thus-I-Come. The world he lives in will be called Pure Dwelling. Ksitigarbha, everything about this ghost king is unimaginable: the people he is saving, in all the worlds and all the heavens, are innumerable."


sons and daughters of hungry ghosts
i got water and i got holes
so, la la la la la la...

...and now you know something you didn't before.