This narrative serves a dual purpose:
This paper examines the Sutra of the Past Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (often referred to as the Di Zhang Jing ), a foundational text of East Asian Mahayana Buddhism. While often categorized as a text dealing primarily with death and the underworld, this study argues that the Di Zhang Jing functions as a sophisticated sociological and psychological treatise. It explores the text's unique synthesis of Indian karmic philosophy with Chinese Confucian values of filial piety ( xiao ). By analyzing the text's structural narrative, its depiction of the "Ten Wheels," and the concept of the "Bodhisattva of the Great Vow," this paper posits that the Di Zhang Jing offers a pragmatic framework for ethical living through the mechanism of radical empathy. di zhang jing