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Updated Monday, September 1, 2008 0:00 am TWN, By Joe Hung, The China Post

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva IV

A score of Buddhist temples in Taiwan are dedicated to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (地藏王菩薩). There are five in the county of Chiayi alone. One in Xinzhuang, a couple of miles from downtown Taipei, is very popular. But images of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva are enshrined in practically all temples in or near public cemeteries across the country. The faithful celebrate the birthday of Ksitigarbha on the thirtieth day of the seventh moon on the lunar calendar. However, it is not his birthday; he was enlightened on that day. Special services, commonly called Bai-xiang hui (拜香會) or Incense-worshipping meetings, are held at the Ksitigarbha temples to mark his “birthday.” Those who cannot attend burn votive incense sticks and insert the smoldering sticks into the earth in the firm belief that it is easier for their bodhisattva, who is in hells underground, to notice their piety.

Mount Jiuhua (九華山), where Kim Kyo-gak (金喬覺), the would-be bodhisattva, was enlightened, is noted for its eighteen springs, two of which are said to have come into being thanks to him.

One of them is Mei-ren quan (美人泉) or Spring of Beauty. On a hot summer day, the Korean monk was on his way back to his shack from a Jiuhua peak where he had practiced Buddhist rules. He was extremely thirsty, wishing desperately to drink a few drops of water. Of course, there was no spring nearby. The only thing he could do to quench his thirst was to sit down under a shading tree and rest. Thereupon a beautiful village girl appeared before him. She was carrying a water urn on her head. She offered the monk a hearty drink, which quenched all his thirst. With the thirst quenched, he took a good look at the girl, who in fact was a fairy the Jade Emperor had dispatched to help the thirsty monk (the faithful in China, more often than not, believe in Buddhism and Taoism at the same time). She was so beautiful that he was seized by lust. As a bodhisattva-to-be, the monk was able to conquer lust, chanting “Namo Omituofu (南無阿彌陀佛).” The moment the chanting had ended, the beauty disappeared into the thin air, but from the spot where she stood came out cold, pure water.

The other is Long quan (龍泉) Dragon Spring. To be exact, it is not a spring but a pond into which five small cascades pour their waters. After the beautiful village girl had disappeared, the future bodhisattva continued to sit under the tree. Then he felt five little dragons nibbling at him. Fully aware the Buddha was testing him, the monk paid no attention to the harassment. Their mother, Long po or Mother Dragon, was alarmed, however. She emerged before the monk to offer an apology. “My little ones have pained you,” she told him, “and I order them to create a clear spring to atone for their bad behavior.” By her orders, the little dragons climbed up the peak, leaving five rivulets in their wake. The rivulets cascade down water to form Dragon Spring.

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