Vajrapâṇi is mentioned in many lists of Bodhisattvas (_e.g._ in the
Dharmasangraha) but is of somewhat doubtful position as Hsüan Chuang
calls him a deva.[65] Historically his recognition as a Bodhisattva is
interesting for he is merely Indra transformed into a Buddhist. The
mysterious personages called Vajradhara and Vajrasattva, who in later
times are even identified with the original Buddha spirit, are further
developments of Vajrapâṇi. He owes his elevation to the fact that
_Vajra_, originally meaning simply thunderbolt, came to be used as a
mystical expression for the highest truth.

More important than these is Kshitigarbha, Ti-tsang or Jizō[66] who in
China and Japan ranks second only to Kuan-yin. Visser has consecrated
to him an interesting monograph[67] which shows what strange changes
and chances may attend spirits and how ideal figures may alter as
century after century they travel from land to land. We know little
about the origin of Kshitigarbha. The name seems to mean Earth-womb
and he has a shadowy counterpart in Akâśagarbha, a similar deity of
the air, who it seems never had a hold on human hearts. The Earth is
generally personified as a goddess[68] and Kshitigarbha has some
slight feminine traits, though on the whole decidedly masculine. The
stories of his previous births relate how he was twice a woman: in
Japan he was identified with the mountain goddess of Kamado, and he
helps women in labour, a boon generally accorded by goddesses. In the
pantheon of India he played an inconspicuous part,[69] though reckoned
one of the eight great Bodhisattvas, but met with more general esteem
in Turkestan, where he began to collect the attributes afterwards
defined in the Far East. It is there that his history and
transformations become clear.