On our third stop during our China Pilgrimage in May this year, we arrived at Mt Jiuhua (九华山) in An’hui Province - Ksitigarbha (Dizang) Bodhisattva’s (地藏王菩萨）bodhimanda, one of the four holy Buddhist mountains in China. It has the tallest Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s statue in the world (99m).

One of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s incarnation is Jin Qiaojue (金乔觉 Kim Qiaojue), a Silla prince (today’s Qingzhou city in South Korea), who was ordained as a bhikkhu and came to China, chose Jiuhua Mountain as his bodhimanda and cultivated himself for 75 years. He entered Parinirvana at 99 years of age; his corporeal body stayed intact as a sacred relic. Because he was very similar in appearance to Dizang Bodhisattva, the monastic community there believed he was one of the incarnations of Dizang Bodhisattva. As a result, Jiuhua Mountain became the sacred site dedicated to Dizang Bodhisattva. During the golden periods of the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were as many as 360 temples and 4,000 to 5,000 monks and nuns. The mountain is not only famous for its Buddhist culture but also noted for its natural landscapes featuring old pines, green bamboo forests, distinctive rocks, waterfalls, streams and caves.

We paid homage to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and were very much touched by his great vows to make the hell realm empty before he realised bodhi ✨🙏

Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva 🙏🙏🙏
Namo Amituofo ✨🙏🙏🙏

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