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:

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…