Dizang-wan is the lord of the underworld. Hell, in the minds of the Chinese, was divided into ten regions, each of which was ruled by its own chief. But they all obeyed Dizang-wan. Dizang-wan studied the book in which all human actions were recorded, and, in accordance with the sins of the soul, directed it to one of the ten regions of hell. Passing through the court, Dizang-wan can rescue sinful souls from there, allowing them to be born again.
Dizang-wang was especially revered in the provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu. According to “Sanjiao coy shen ji” (“Notes on the search for spirits of three religions”; 15-16 centuries), a Buddhist monk from the state of Silla on the Korean Peninsula (according to another version, originally from India) named Fu Lobu, a Mulian monk, who supposedly sailed to China in the 8th century, was deified as Dizang-wan. and settled on Jiuhuashan Mountain in Anhui. At 99 years old, he gathered his disciples, said goodbye, sat down in the coffin, crossed his legs and died, turning into Dizang-wan.
Dizang-wan is depicted standing, less often sitting, in the robes of an Indian or more often a Chinese Buddhist monk, with a shaved head. In his right hand he holds a metal staff with 6 tin rings on it, which ring when he walks. The staff serves him to open diyu doors. In his left hand he holds a pearl, the light of which illuminates the roads in the underworld. Sometimes the ceremonial headdress of the sovereign is added to the monk's attire, then Dizang-wan is depicted sitting or standing on a throne (or on a lion). Sometimes he is accompanied by two saints, one holding a staff, the other a pearl.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru