Allow me to quote this story from Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's
Original Vows Sutra:
“Moreover, long and infinite aeons
ago, Buddha Pure-Lotus-Eyes came into the world. This Buddha’s
lifespan is forty aeons. The immortal Buddha, Pure-Lotus-Eyes
existed during the Dharma-Image Age – at the time when images were
used for worship.
There was an arahant who
instructed many people little by little with his fortunate merits.
This arahant met a woman, Bright Eyes, who prepared
sacrificial offerings for him. The arahant asked her what she
wanted. Bright Eyes answered, “I have prayed and given
offerings in memory of my mother since the day she died. I wish to
know where my mother is now.” The arahant felt compassion
for Bright Eyes. He meditated and saw that her mother had fallen
into an evil level and had suffered great pain.
The arahant asked Bright Eyes,
“What did your mother do when she was alive? She is now suffering
in hell.” Bright Eyes answered, “My mother loved eating fish,
especially baby fish. She fried or boiled thousands of baby fish,
willfully, as she pleased. Please nobel one be merciful and help my
mother.” The arahant felt compassion for her and advised
Bright Eyes, “Reverently recite the name of Buddha Pure-Lotus-Eyes
and draw an image of him to benefit all those beings either living
or dead.”
So Bright Eyes sold all her
favorite things as soon as she heard the arhan’s instructions. Then
she asked a painter to draw the Buddha’s portrait. She gave
offerings in sacrifice, and with a reverent heart sorrowfully wept
as she worshipped the Buddha. Unexpectedly one night, as if in a
dream, she saw a Buddha who was as tall as Mount Sumeru, emitting
bright and shining light. This Buddha told Bright Eyes, “Your
mother will be soon reborn in your house. She will be able to speak
soon after she feels hunger and cold.”
After some time, a maidservant of
Bright Eyes family bore a baby. This baby could speak three days
after her birth.
Bowing her head and crying, she
told Bright Eyes, “One has to suffer the consequences and
retributions of one’s own doing throughout life and death. I was
your mother. I stayed in hell for a long time. Since we parted, I
have fallen into hell several times. Because of you, I am born here
as a servant. But I will die early; I will only live until I am
thirteen years old. After I die, I will fall into an evil level
again. Do you have any way to relieve me from these
sufferings?”
After listening to the words of
the servant’s baby, Bright Eyes realized this baby was her mother.
She asked her sorrowfully, and with tears, “When you were my
mother, do you know what you did to make you fall into an evil
level?” The baby answered, “I am suffering this retribution due to
the karma of killing and slandering. If it were not for you saving
me from suffering, I would not be released from such
karma.”
Bright Eyes asked about the
situation in hell and the baby answered, “It was so horrible that I
dare not remind myself of it again. And the sufferings there cannot
be stated even in thousands of years.”
Bright Eyes wept and wailed after
listening to the baby’s statement. She swore into empty space, “May
my mother leave hell forever and not fall into evil again after her
thirteen years on earth. Please all Buddhas from the Ten Directions
have mercy upon me; listen to my solemn pledge for my mother. If my
mother can leave the three evil levels forever, and does not take
any humble position or ever be born as woman, I vow, in front of
Buddha Pure-Lotus-Eyes that from now on I will save and work
towards cultivating all beings in all worlds, hells and evil levels
out of suffering. I do not want to become a Buddha until all of
them become Buddhas.”
Bright Eyes then clearly heard
Buddha Pure-Lotus- Eyes who told her, “Bright Eyes, you have great
benevolent and compassion to make such a great vow for your mother.
After your mother finishes thirteen years’ retribution, she will be
born into Brahmin class for one hundred years. In her next life,
she will again be born into the Land of No Concern
for uncountable aeons. Then, she will become a Buddha to help to
cross over as many human and heavenly beings as there are sands in
the Ganges.”
Buddha told Bodhisattva
Self-Existent King, “The arahant who helped Bright Eyes at that
time is now the Bodhisattva Inexhaustible-Intention. The mother of
Bright Eyes is the Bodhisattva Liberation. And Bright Eyes herself
is now the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. Throughout many aeons,
Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha has crossed over all beings by his
benevolence and compassion. He has made as many vows to rescue
living beings as there are grains of sand in the Ganges.
From http://venchinkung.com/ksitigarbha-sutra/4/
*Land of No-Concern - interpreted by some Buddhist books and
Venerables to be Amitabha Buddha's Pureland.
Note that the arahant voluntarily ask what he could do to help
Bright Eyes after he had finished his meal. This is
definitely pro-active compassion in my humble opinion.
