Our Mission

The Jizo Foundation is dedicated to promoting understanding and healing for women and families who have suffered the loss of an infant at birth or before. Grieving rituals are important for healing, and we aim to offer both ritual and community, by lifting the veil of silence and shame that needlessly covers the death of babies before birth. By creating public grieving sites and providing connection to others for support and solace, we offer comfort, support, and mental health services to those women and families who are mourning a tragic loss.

Families who have suffered that kind of loss need a special place to grieve. Throughout the Far East, there are gardens presided over by statues of the benevolent Bodhisattva (Saint) known as Jizo, who looks after the newly departed, cherished pets, and those in mourning. In each of our sites there will be special designated areas set aside for those families, where public art in the form of statues of Jizo will preside, offering comfort, with a bench to sit amid the natural landscape.

Our public service humanitarian mission of creating grieving sites in select existing cemeteries will help heal thousands of grieving families. Our community outreach will bring people together, and eventual gatherings remembrance rituals, and on-site ceremonies will bring awareness and understanding, alleviate suffering, and provide a forum for connection, thereby improving the lives of this hidden population.

About Us

The Jizo Foundation was established in April 2020 by mythologist, author, and grief counselor, Dr. Patricia Danaher, M.A., as a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to provide social, emotional, and mental health support services to those families who are grieving the loss of a baby or an unborn child through miscarriage, still-birth, or failed IVF by creating accessible community grieving areas enhanced with public art. In Western civilization, there is no place or process for this kind of mourning. With no possibility of a ceremony or a grave to visit, families are left with no way to mourn. Our project is inspired by an ancient and popular Japanese tradition involving public grieving grounds presided over by statues of the loving bodhisattva (saint) Jizo, who offers comfort to those in mourning.

We have recently partnered with “Destination Destiny,” an organization that owns and operates cemeteries and green burial sites around the world. We will be establishing Jizo Grieving Sites in several of their locations, where families can go to observe a loss when there are no remains to bury. The properties range from sprawling desert gardens of Joshua trees and wild California poppies to majestic hillsides of the Pacific Northwest, to historic locations on the East coast resplendent with ancient oak, cedar, and pine trees. Walking paths and trails allow for quiet time in nature on all properties. Although the cemeteries are already in existence and operational, the Jizo sites are still under construction. Please follow us on social media for regular updates.

The Backstory

 The high number of miscarriages, failed IVF and stillbirths around the world is a sad and alarming fact.  According to UNICEF,  a stillbirth occurs every 16 seconds somewhere in the world - about 2 million babies annually– a tragedy that reaches far beyond the loss of life. According to national estimates, 15 to 20% of all pregnancies in the US end in miscarriage. Research involving in vitro fertilization (IVF) found that a very large percentage of harvested eggs harbored chromosome abnormalities, the leading cause of early-term miscarriages. Another study found that around 22% of all conceptions never even complete implantation. About 31% of pregnancies confirmed after implantation end in miscarriage. Based on this and other current medical evidence, if you include fertilized eggs that fail to implant along with pregnancies that end in miscarriage, around 70% to 75% of all conceptions will end in pregnancy loss. (source: https://www.verywellfamily.com/making-sense-of-miscarriage-statistics-2371721)

About Jizo

Jizo Bodhisattva is a Buddhist saint and archetype, and a protector of children, animals and travelers. Such is his compassion for anyone suffering loss and grief that he is affectionately known as the “Universal Pain Reliever”. There are various iterations of this loving figure in many Asian traditions, most particularly Japan.  In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a beloved practitioner who vows to continue reincarnating and not to enter Nirvana until all beings are enlightened. He moves freely through all the realms of existence. Jizo is a beautiful and very specific acknowledgment of the darkness that is part of all life, the torment and pain which can accompany the most hopeful passages of our existence.

Jizo knows that grief is a deeply human experience, not some problem which needs to be solved. Jizo is steadfast in his compassion and tenderness to the bereaved, and in caring for the soul of the lost baby. He contains both masculine and feminine qualities, and connects us to nature, reminding us that spirit exists in every leaf and stone and branch, within the transience of all things and experiences. The pain of grieving can often be eased through inviting the healing presence of Jizo into your life. For centuries, the Japanese have held healing rituals to mourn the loss of unborn or very young babies. Throughout the country, there are memorial grounds to honor these little souls, who are guarded by the benevolent figure of Jizo.