Earth Store Bodhisattva – Jizo in Japan; Kṣitigarbha in Sanskrit – is famous for his vow to save everyone in hell before he himself becomes a Buddha. But he is not the only one with that responsibility.

As we learn in the Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva,  the living have 49 days in which to intervene on behalf of those who have died.

Early in the sutra we learn of a Brahmin woman who was consigned to the hells due to offenses committed during her lifetime. In an act of filial responsibility, her daughter embarked on a journey to the hells to rescue her mother from its horrors.

“The Brahman woman asked the ghost king, ‘What is this place?’

“Poisonless replied, ‘We are on the western side of the Great Iron Ring Mountain and this is the first of the seas that encircle it.’

“The worthy woman asked, ‘I have heard that the hells are within the Iron Ring. Is that actually so?’

“Poisonless answered, ‘Yes, the hells are here.’

“The worthy woman asked, ‘How have I now come to the hells?’

“Poisonless answered, ‘If it wasn’t awesome spiritual strength that brought you here, then it was the power of karma. Those are the only two ways that anyone can come here.’

“The worthy woman asked, ‘Why is this water seething and bubbling, and why are there so many offenders and dreadful beasts?’

“Poisonless replied, ‘These are beings of Jambudvipa who did evil deeds. They have just died and passed through forty-nine days without any surviving relatives doing any meritorious deeds on their behalf to rescue them from their distress. Moreover, during their lives they themselves didn’t plant any good causes. Hence their own karma calls forth these hells. They must, of course, cross this sea first. Ten thousand yojanas east of this sea is another sea in which they will undergo twice as much suffering. East of that sea is yet another sea where the sufferings are doubled yet again. What the combined evil causes of the three karmas evoke are all called the sea of karma. This is that place.”

The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva, page 10-11

Later in the sutra the offering of merit to the deceased is discussed.

[Earth Store Bodhisattva said] “World Honored One, I see that beings of Jambudvipa will themselves receive the benefit of any good deeds they are able to do within the Buddha’s teachings. That holds true even when the deeds are as small as a strand of hair, a drop of water, a grain of sand, or a mote of dust.”

After that had been said, an elder named Great Eloquence rose in the assembly. He had realized non-production long ago and was only appearing in the body of an elder to teach and transform those in the ten directions. Placing his palms together respectfully, he asked Earth Store Bodhisattva, “Great Lord, after people in Jambudvipa die and their young and old relatives cultivate merit by making vegetarian meal offerings and doing other such good deeds, will the deceased obtain merit and virtue significant enough to bring about their liberation?”

Earth Store replied, “Elder, based on the awesome power of the Buddhas, I will now expound this principle for the sake of beings of the present and future. Elder, if beings of the present and future, when on the verge of dying hear the name of one Buddha, one Bodhisattva, or one Pratyekabuddha, they will attain liberation whether they have committed offenses or not.

“When men or women laden with offenses who failed to plant good causes die, even they can receive one-seventh of any merit dedicated to them by young and old relatives who do good deeds on their behalf. The other six sevenths of the merit will accrue to the living relatives who did the good deeds. It follows that men and women of the present and future who cultivate while they are strong and healthy will receive all portions of the benefit derived.

“The arrival of the great ghost of Impermanence is so unexpected that the deceased ones’ consciousnesses first drift in darkness, unaware of offenses and blessings. For forty-nine days the deceased are as if deluded or deaf, or as if in various courts where their karmic retributions are being decided. Once judgment is fixed, they are reborn according to their karma. In the time before rebirths are determined, the deceased suffer from thousands upon thousands of anxieties. How much more is that the case for those who are to fall into the bad destinies?

“Throughout forty-nine days, those whose lives have ended and who have not yet been reborn will be hoping every moment that their immediate relatives will earn blessings powerful enough to rescue them. At the end of that time, the deceased will undergo retribution according to their karma. If someone is an offender, he may pass through hundreds of thousands of years with no prospect of liberation. If someone’s offenses deserve fivefold relentless retribution, he will fall into the great hells and undergo incessant suffering throughout hundreds of millions of eons.

“Moreover, Elder, when beings who have committed karmic offenses die, their relatives may prepare vegetarian offerings to aid them on their karmic paths. In the process of preparing the vegetarian meal and before it has been eaten, rice-washing water and vegetable leaves should not be thrown on the ground. Before the food is offered to the Buddhas and the Sangha, no one should eat it. If there is laxness or transgression in this matter, then the deceased will receive no strength from it. If purity is rigorously maintained in making the offering to the Buddhas and the Sangha, the deceased will receive one seventh of the merit. Therefore, Elder, by performing vegetarian offerings on behalf of deceased fathers, mothers, and other relatives while making earnest supplication on their behalf, beings of Jambudvipa benefit both the living and the dead.”

After that was said, thousands of billions of nayutas of ghosts and spirits of Jambudvipa who were in the palace of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, made the unlimited resolve to attain Bodhi. The elder Great Eloquence made obeisance and withdrew.

The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva, page 63-66

I’ve written a lot about the 49-day journey after death. You can find much of that content here.