The Stem Array · Gaṇḍavyūha

Sudhana eventually reached the town of Roruka and approached the householder Ajitasena, bowed his head to the feet of the householder Ajitasena, stood before him, and, with his palms together in homage, said, “Ārya, I have developed the aspiration for the highest, complete enlightenment, but I do not know how bodhisattvas should train in bodhisattva conduct and in what way they should practice it. Ārya, I have heard that you give instruction and teachings to bodhisattvas. I pray that you explain to me how bodhisattvas should train in bodhisattva conduct and how they should practice it!”

When he had said that, the householder Ajitasena said, “Noble one, I have attained the bodhisattva liberation called unceasing characteristics so that I have attained the treasure of the unceasing vision of the buddhas.

“Depart, noble one. In this southern region, in the village called Dharma, resides a brahmin by the name of Śivarāgra. Go to him and ask him, ‘How should a bodhisattva train in and practice bodhisattva conduct?’ ”

Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, bowed his head to the feet of the householder Ajitasena. He circumambulated the householder Ajitasena many hundreds of thousands of times, keeping him to his right, and, looking back at him again and again, he departed from the householder Ajitasena.