Kishibojin2

In the kanji (Chinese character) for ki of "Kishibojin" there is a single stroke that curves
downward. This stroke indicates one horn of the devil. Once Kishibojin had reflected on her nefarious behavior and understood the pain and suffering she had inflicted on other parents and children, she vowed to protect the children of the world. Moreover, in the 26th chapter of the Lotus Sutra she, together with her ten demon daughters vow to Shakyamuni to protect and defend the teacher of the true Law of Namu-myoho-renge-kyo and all those who practice it correctly. This transformation in Kishibojin, from a devil to a goddess, is reflected in the character ki. Ki suggests heart. It suggests caring or thinking about someone. In the case of the name "Kishibojin" the ki has been modified to indicate her transformation. The word for devil in Japanese is akuma. The first Chinese character of this word has similarities to the character ki of "Kishibojin." However, in the case of akuma there are two downward slanting strokes on the right and left sides, indicating the two horns of the devil. With the removal of one of her horns Kishibojin, who was once a devil, is transformed into a goddess who protects true Buddhism.

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KISHIBOJIN
As Retold By
Reverend Raido Hirota

ISHIBOJIN and Jurasetsu are written on the upper left side of Gohonzon. Kishibojin is the mother-of-devils; Jurasetsu are her ten demon daughters. Kishibojin is called the mother-of-devils because she symbolizes the selfish nature of mothers whose love for their children is so extreme they become devils.

Kishibojin had more than a thousand children. In order to assure their health and well being she kidnapped the babies of others and fed them to her own. At once this demonstrates her great concern for her own children while conversely revealing her disregard and unmindfulness of others. And because the task of feeding her children was too great for her to undertake alone, she enlisted the Jurasetsu, her ten demon daughters, to help her capture and murder other children.

KISHIBOJIN

Kishibojin's heinous activities did not go unnoticed by Shakyamuni Buddha. To teach her a lesson the Buddha himself kidnapped her tenth demon daughter (also Jurasetsu in Japanese), whose name was "Plunderer-of-Vital-Energy-of-All-Beings" and hid her away. One would think that Kishibojin would not miss one particular child when she had more than a thousand children. But since she loved all her children equally she did miss that one child.

Day and night she searched tirelessly for her one missing child. She knew she had erred. She knew what she had been doing was wrong. That is why she hated Shakyamuni, the emblem of truth and goodness, and avoided him. And as Daishonin says, "It is quite natural that [she] should, for the crooked piece of wood hates the straightness of the carpenter's string, and the dishonest man is not pleased with the honest administration of government." So for a long time Kishibojin continued to search on her own for her missing child and nearly went out of her mind from fear and worry.

Finally, driven to the point of total desperation, she confronted Shakyamuni and asked him if he knew where Jurasetsu was. Without hesitation Shakyamuni took Kishibojin to Jurasetsu and scolded to her, "By losing this one child you now know the suffering and torment other mothers feel when they lose a child." For the first time Kishibojin understood the pain and suffering of other people.

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