Postface on the Publication of the Ksitigarbha Sutra

The Dharma does not arise haphazardly, but only grows in accordance with causation. It is now four years since the establishment of the Chinese Buddhist Society of Australia with the aim of bringing Mahayana Buddhism into the Southern Hemisphere. During this period, the work of the propagation of the Dharma has steadily proceeded without any interruption.

The seven foot portrait and the bronze statue of the Buddha have been installed in the centre of the Prajna Hall, with the five foot statue of the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion (Kuan-yin) on the right side and the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva on the left side. We now have a complete set of ritual objects: banners, green-bell, wooden fish, etc.

Mrs. A. Howe, wife of the late Mr. S. C. Howe, a wealthy businessman of Chefoo, Shantung, China, is kind, benevolent and charitable, and was once the president of the Shantung Club of Australia Ltd, Sydney. She became a Buddhist in her old age, and now recites the name of Avolokitesvara Bodhisattva daily and observes Eight Prohibitory Precepts once a year.

She is very interested in the Society's propagation of the Dharma, and makes donations to the Society every year. Recently she sent me a cheque for five hundred dollars, in addition to her donation, stating that this money should be used for the erection of the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Because the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was already erected in 1974 with the money left over from contributions used to print two important Sutras of Pure Land Sect, I have therefore decided to use her money to print the Ksitigarbha Sutra in order to meet her wish. It will be distributed free by the Society to commemorate her seventieth anniversary birthday of April, 1976.

I should like to express my gratitude to Ven. Chee Hoi of Hong Kong Buddhist Book Distributor for solving the problem of printing and of the occasion of the printing of this Sutra. I feel it appropriate to relate the circumstances connected with this publication.

Sydney, Australia

Y. Y. Liao
B.B. 2520 (A.D. 1976)

Through the merits of circulating this publication,

"I aspire that may all beings be always at ease and happy, free from sufferings and illness; may none of the evil dharmas practised succeed; may all the wholesome actions practised be quickly accomplished; may all the gates to the evil courses be closed; and may the right way to the human, the divine and the Nirvana be opened and shown."

----- Adopted from the chapter of the Practices and Vows of Samantabhadra of the AVATAMSAKA SUTRA.