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In reading sutras, esp. Mahayana sutras, do not personify the deities, but instead learn to assimilate their nature and merit into your own. Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is not a person but one of life's main prototypes or existents, and so is Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. We assimilate these prototypes into our own nature.
Most people never question the purpose of their lives.
Have you really sought the path of your own life?
How do you walk this path such that nothing will bind you down?
You must answer these questions yourselves from your own experiences!
Do not rely on others; live to the fullest potential of your existence.
Live to see your own brilliance! Live to smell your true fragrances!
To seek positively the value and meaning of life, you must lay out its blueprint by assimilating a certain life's prototype...
- excerpt from Ven. Haiyun Jimeng's Dharma talk on the Ksitigarbha Sutra 2008 available on YouTube and in DVD
Posted by Ven. Sakya Longyen