The Sutra of the Vows of Ksitighabha relates how the bodhisattva maintained this vow through many different generations. Two important precedents of piety sustaining the vow of compassion were the Brahmin Saintly Woman and the Bright Eyed Daughter, two former incarnations of Ksitigharbha.
「地藏菩薩本願經」中講述了地藏菩薩在各個不同世中發願的累世因緣，其中「婆羅門聖女」和「光目女」的因緣最為重要，也是地藏傳說的「原型」。