Before working on this website I had often heard people mention the boddhisatva Dizang, but I never knew quite what people were supposed to ask for when they worshipped him. Here’s the story behind Dizang….

In a place called Pi County there was a man named Fu Yuanwai. He got rich by exploiting the labor of others, and had two sons. After the elder son grew up, he served as debt collector for his father. Eventually Fu Yuanwai, seeing the error of his ways, adopted a vegetarian diet and became a follower of the Buddha. Fu Yuanwai finally ascended to heaven on the back of a crane. His elder son died, and the younger son, who was born after Fu’s conversion to Buddhism, became a monk. Fu’s wife, Liu Shi, missed the wealth of her former life, and went back to it. There was no iniquity to which she would not stoop. After dying she went to hell and there endured many years of hardship. The younger son, who was none other than King Dizang, took a cane in hand and struck the earth a tremendous blow, cracking it open to save his mother from hell. King Dizang swore that as long as there was suffering in hell he would never become a buddha. That is why even to this day he is still a boddhisatva, but we are eternally grateful for his selfless sacrifice.