Lesson 4

Can our prayers and virtuous actions still help someone after they have died? In Lesson 04 of the Ksitigarbha Sutra, Khenpo Sodargye shares moving accounts of daughters who sought to help their deceased mothers through faith, offerings, sacred images, and sincere prayer.

The central story follows a Brahmin woman whose mother rejected and criticized the Dharma. After her mother’s death, the daughter made extensive offerings and prayed wholeheartedly to the Buddha. Through the power of her devotion, she entered a terrifying vision of the hell realms and discovered what had happened to her mother.

This lesson also reveals how the Brahmin woman’s determination to liberate suffering beings became one of the great vows associated with Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.