Kṣitigarbha, Lazarus, and Christ
On Katabaseis
I was recently arrested by the following image, which gave me the most curious and in some ways splendorous dream:
![Four heroic incarnations of Ksitigarbha, the "Earth Store" Bodhisattva](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sdwn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcb6c54ac-13b2-449b-a178-acca3a78e887_960x720.jpeg "Four heroic incarnations of Ksitigarbha, the "Earth Store" Bodhisattva")
First, the dream: I was in hell. Not, mind you, an ancient hell: not a subterranean hell, a chthonian nightmare beset by the draconic breath of cavernous beasts and baleful woes, no Sheol or Hades or Tartaros or naraka or Inferno. Instead, I…
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