The Stem Array · Gaṇḍavyūha

Sudhana eventually reached the village of Dharma and approached the brahmin Śivarāgra. He bowed his head to the feet of the brahmin Śivarāgra, 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 brahmin Śivarāgra said, “Noble one, I have the conduct empowered by truth. There is the speech of truth by which the bodhisattvas in the three times have not turned back, do not turn back,¹⁹⁴² and will never turn back from the highest, complete enlightenment. Through the empowerment of that speech of truth, if I say, ‘May this and that necessity be accomplished!’ then all my wishes become fulfilled.

“Noble one, I know only this empowerment of the truth. How could I know the conduct or describe the qualities of the bodhisattvas who have attained the speech devoted to truth?

“Depart, noble one. In this southern region there is a town called Sumanāmukha. There resides a boy by the name of Śrīsaṃbhava and a girl by the name of Śrīmati. Go to them and ask them, ‘How should a bodhisattva train in and practice bodhisattva conduct?’ ”

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