Qing Ming Repaying Kindness Bodhisattva Earth Store Dharma Assembly – Learning from the Bodhisattva Earth Store’s Great Compassionate Vow

The Tomb Sweeping Festival (Qing Ming Festival) is a holiday on which the Chinese people show their gratitude to their ancestors. Tomb-sweeping and ancestral worship is part of the Chinese cultural virtue of remembering our ancestors.

During the Qing Ming Festival, on the afternoon of April 2 (Sunday), DDM Buddhist Centre Malaysia organized a Qing Ming Repaying Kindness Bodhisattva Earth Store Dharma Assembly. Approximately 180 people participated in the hybrid in-person and online event. Devotees chanted the Earth Store Sutra with a mind of gratitude and sincerity, to offer prayers and blessings for their deceased loved ones and all sentient beings.
 
Retreat Monitor Ven. Chang Ji remarked in her sermon: "Besides ancestral worship, our participation in Qing Ming Repaying Kindness Bodhisattva Earth Store Dharma Assembly as Buddhist practitioners is also a way to show sympathy, care, and remembrance of our ancestors." It is additionally a way to show our gratitude for our parents and all sentient beings. Furthermore, devotees shared Buddhadharma with their deceased loved ones or departed souls by singing and chanting sutras, in the hopes that they could eliminate afflictions, grudges, and resentment from their hearts, as well as attain rebirth in the Buddha Pure Lands. In the process, they also prayed for the deceased to be diligent and hardworking in freeing themselves from disasters and obstacles.
 
The Earth Store Sutra delineates the story of Buddha Shakyamuni traveling to the Triyastrimsa Heaven to expound Dharma for his deceased mother Queen Maya, to repay the kindness of his parents. Bodhisattva Earth Store simultaneously went forth to listen to the Dharma, which in turn allowed the Buddha to introduce to the assembly listeners the causal conditions for Bodhisattva Earth Store's self-cultivation in the causal grounds of his past lives. The most memorable impression of Bodhisattva Earth Store is his spirit of filial piety. In order to rescue his mother who has fallen into the evil realm from suffering, he vowed to help all sentient beings be liberated from suffering and attain joy. Therefore, the great vow of the Bodhisattva Earth Store is: "Not until all hells are empty, will I become a Buddha."
 
Bodhisattva Earth Store also epitomized the spirit of great courage. For endless lifetimes and countless kalpas, he ceaselessly delivered sentient beings, manifesting his commitment and determination in "doing what is difficult to do, and enduring what is difficult to endure." In addition, because he was "stoic as the earth and profound as a treasure trove," he was dubbed Earth Store. Bodhisattva Earth Store is just like the earth we stand on, enhancing the good roots of all sentient beings, assisting all in liberating them from suffering and attaining joy. Moreover, he is just as kind and compassionate as Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, rescuing sentient beings from their suffering by hearing their cries for help. Bodhisattva Earth Store is able to manifest countless forms to rescue innumerable sentient beings from all forms of suffering. Regardless of whether one is experiencing hardships, disasters, illnesses, or obstacles, as long as one sincerely recites the sacred name of Bodhisattva Earth Store and reverently makes offerings to him, one can guide sentient beings to liberation from suffering and attainment of joy.
 
Ven. Chang Ji reminded the devotees to not only request help from Bodhisattva Earth Store, but also to learn from him. By cultivating the precepts, concentration, and wisdom in our daily lives, as well as exerting the spirit of benefiting oneself through helping others, we will be free from our afflictions. Besides delivering their deceased family members, every Dharma assembly participant was also delivering themselves and fulfilling their merit through chanting and sharing Buddhadharma.
 
The Earth Store Sutra is comprised of the Upper, Middle, and Lower volumes. The Dharma assembly is divided into two sessions, with the participants joining the evening service led by the venerables. In the midst of the solemn assembly, praying for the ancestors, deceased relatives, and all beings who are still experiencing pain and obstacles is a wondrous opportunity. While feeling Dharma joy, the participants fully completed the Dharma assembly.
 
Text: Hui-hsuan Lai (賴慧璇) 20230410
Photo: Li-qin Ye (葉麗芹) 20230410
Translated by: Ariel Shen (沈純湘)
Edited by: Cheng-yu Chang (張振郁), Keith Brown