Description:

Jizo Bosatsu, Stone Sculpture, Antique, Japan
Antique stone sculpture of Jizo, Japan, late nineteenth century. Jizo stands 23.6" (60 cm.) Unlike most Bodhisattvas, Jizo is portrayed as a walking monk without crown, hair or ornament. Jizo is also known as Ksitigarbha (Sanskrit), meaning "he who encompasses the earth." He is the master of the six worlds of desire and the six destinies of rebirth. He is particularly popular in Japan as the Bodhisattva who consoles those beings awaiting rebirth, and in this context is associated with Yamaraja (Japanese Enma-o), the King of the Underworld. Ksitigarbha was so horrified by the torment of his late impious mother that he vowed to save all beings from a similar torment. He was prominently mentioned in the Sutra of the Ten Cakras and was hugely popular from the fifth century on in China, and especially Japan.