In Search of the Bodhisattva Way (Morimoto 2026)

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In Search of the Bodhisattva Way: The Child Sudhana’s Journey to Enlightenment from the Avatamsaka Sutra

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

A retelling of Sudhana’s story from the Avatamsaka Sūtra, this book chronicles a child’s quest to seek spiritual wisdom from fifty-five bodhisattvas. Each chapter focuses on a different bodhisattva, with accompanying images from a 12th-century Japanese painted scroll.

What does it mean to dedicate yourself to the spiritual path with the innocence of a child? The answers to that are revealed in the story of a child named Sudhana, protagonist of the longest chapter in one of the oldest and most prominent Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras. In Search of the Bodhisattva Way is Kōsei Morimoto’s summary of “Entering the Dharma Realm,” the final chapter of the Avatamsaka Sūtra, which also circulated separately as the Gandavyūha Sūtra. The story is illustrated with images from the twelfth-century Painting Scroll of the Fifty-Five Avatamsaka Sites, a National Treasure of Japan. Morimoto’s detailed introduction and annotations reveal the religious, literary, and economic dimensions of the sūtra’s place within South Asian history.

The early Indian Mahāyāna cosmology and doctrine represented in these narratives are grounded in the idea of emptiness but also an expansive, infinite notion of enlightened mind illuminating everywhere. The core of the book consists of fifty-five short chapters, each of which centers around a different “wondrous friend,” from whom Sudhana seeks guidance on the bodhisattva path. It is only at the end of his journey that Sudhana is shown the direct path to enlightenment by the bodhisattvas Maitreya and Samantabhadra. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Citation

Morimoto, Kosei. In Search of the Bodhisattva Way: The Child Sudhana’s Journey to Enlightenment from the Avatamsaka Sutra. Translated by Yoshiro Ogura, Joseph Britton, and Eri Suzuki Tomita. Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications, 2026.

Publisher Link

https://www.shambhala.com/in-search-of-the-bodhisattva-way.html

Table of contents

• Foreword by Kazuaki Tanahashixi
• Editor's Preface by Susan O'Learyxiii
• Acknowledgmentsxv
• Introduction by Kōsei Morimotoxvii
• Note on Pronunciation of the Sanskritxliii

• Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra1
  • Prologue: Śākyamuni Buddha Has Become a Universal Deity1

• • 1. Mañjuśrī: Encountering a Turning Point in Life9
  • 2. Meghaśrī: Being Mindful of Buddhas17
  • 3. Sāgaramegha: Staring over the Ocean for Years21
  • 4. Supratiṣṭhita: The Result of Endless Practices25
  • 5. Megha: The Soul Gives Off an Air of Nobleness, Seeking Enlightenment29
  • 6. Muktaka: The Buddha Speaks to People Differently Based upon Their Capabilities33
  • 7. Sāradhvaja: Radiant Body Speaks the Dharma37
  • 8. Āśā: Unflinching Determination Arises upon Seeing Her43
  • 9. Bhīṣmottara Nirghoṣa: Touching His Hand Allows Seeing the Universe beyond Time47
  • 10. Jayoṣmāyatana: Never Doubt the Wondrous Friend51
  • 11. Maitrāyaṇī: Many Different Gates for Enlightenment Way55
  • 12. Sudarśana: All Worlds Manifest in a Single Moment59
  • 13. Indriyeśvara: Absorbing All Arts and Sciences from an Early Age63
  • 14. Prabhūtā: The Act of Giving in an Ultimate Way67
  • 15. Vidvān: The Heart of Giving in an Ultimate Way71
  • 16. Ratnacūḍa: Ten Stages of Practice toward Enlightenment75
  • 17. Samantanetra: It Begins Only after Giving Medication79
  • 18. King Anala: Creating an Illusion in Order to Teach Dharma83
  • 19. Mahāprabha: The Rule of Dharma Brings Peace to the Land89
  • 20. Acalā: Never Retreat from the Vow of Enlightenment, Even through Death and Rebirth93
  • 21. Sarvagāmin: Observe Beings and Teach Dharma99
  • 22. Utpalabhūti: Ultimate Master of Fragrance103
  • 23. Vaira: Beyond the Mastery of Navigation107
  • 24. Jayottama: What It Means to Perform the Duties of a Practitioner of Law111
  • 25. Siṃha Vijṛmbhitā: Transforming into Many Bodies When She Expounds Dharma115
  • 26. Vasumitrā: The Utmost Courtesan119
  • 27. Veṣṭhila: Buddhas Manifest Anywhere, Anytime123
  • 28. Avalokiteśvara: Ask, and His Helping Hands Will Be Extended to You127
  • 29. Ananyagāmin: His Helping Hands Reach Out Swiftly131
  • 30. Mahādeva: I, Great Celestial Being, Shall Protect Bodhisattvas135
  • 31. Sthāvarā: A Goddess of the Earth Shall Protect Bodhisattvas139
  • 32. Vāsantī: The Night Goddess Keeps People Safe from Danger143
  • 33. Samanta Gambhīra Śrī Vimala Prabhā: Experience Peace and Tranquility in Meditation149
  • 34. Pramudita Nayana Jagad Virocanā: Elucidating the Ten Pāramitās through Emanations153
  • 35. Samanta Sattva Trāṇojaḥ Śrī: Saving All Sentient Beings in All Different Worlds with No Discrimination159
  • 36. Praśanta Ruta Sāgaravatī: All of the Bodhisattvas' Virtues Contain Profound Wisdom165
  • 37. Sarva Nagara Rakṣā Sambhava Tejaḥ Śrī: The Invisible World Will Be Visible If One Expounds Dharma169
  • 38. Sarva Vṛkṣa Praphullana Sukha Saṃvāsā: The Happiness of All Sentient Beings Comes from the Divine Power of Buddhas173
  • 39. Sarva Jagad Rakṣā Praṇidhāna Vīrya Prabhā: Great Compassion Saves Even Criminals Who Deserve Execution177
  • 40. Sutejo Maṇḍalarati Śrī: Certain Conditions Must Be Fulfilled for the Birth of a Bodhisattva183
  • 41. Gopā: The Past Vows of Vairocana Buddha Make All This Happen189
  • 42. Māyā: All Bodhisattvas Are Born of Lady Māyā199
  • 43. Surendrābhā: Buddhas Appear at Any Time205
  • 44. Viśvāmitra: Introduction to the Next Wondrous Friend209
  • 45. Śilpābhijña: Each Letter Has Its Own Mystical Power211
  • 46. Bhadrottamā: Beings Radiate Light by Reaching the Ultimate Stage215
  • 47. Muktāsāra: Concentrate on Seeking the Sacred Teachings219
  • 48. Sucandra: Enlightenment May Be Hidden Inside221
  • 49. Ajitasena: You Can See Buddhas Whenever You Wish223
  • 50. Śivarāgra: A Vow for Truth Leads to Enlightenment225
  • 51. Śrīsaṃbhava and Śrīmatī: The Whole World Is an Illusion227
  • 52. Maitreya, Part 1: Thoughts before Meeting the Great Bodhisattva231
  • 53. Maitreya, Part 2: Seeing the Entire Cosmos inside the Mystic Tower239
  • 54. A Second Encounter with Mañjuśrī: Praising Sudhana's Progress249
  • 55. Samantabhadra, Incomparable Mind of Enlightenment, Responds to the Wish of Sudhana251

• Afterword: Uncovering the Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra265

• Appendix: Calligraphy on the Scroll Paintings275

• Notes291
• Bibliography307
• Index309
• About the Author321

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Partial translation of

Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra [बुद्धावतंसकनाममहावैपुल्यसूत्रात गण्डव्यूहसूत्रः पटलः]. sdong pos brgyan pa'i le'u [སྡོང་པོས་བརྒྱན་པའི་ལེའུ]. [Chapter 45: The Gaṇḍhavyūha Sūtra (84000)]. Translated by Divākara, Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Prajña, Sheng-chien. Kangyur, RKTSK 44-45 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=44-45&typ=1.སྡོང་པོས་བརྒྱན་པའི་ལེའུ

Classical WorksAbout this item

In this lengthy final chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, while the Buddha Śākyamuni is in meditation in Śrāvastī, Mañjuśrī leaves for South India, where he meets the young layman Sudhana and instructs him to go to a certain kalyāṇamitra or "good friend," who then directs Sudhana to another such friend. In this way, Sudhana successively meets and receives teachings from fifty male and female, child and adult, human and divine, and monastic and lay kalyāṇamitras, including night goddesses surrounding the Buddha and the Buddha’s wife and mother. The final three in the succession of kalyāṇamitras are the three bodhisattvas Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra’s recitation of the Samantabhadracaryāpraṇidhāna ("The Prayer for Completely Good Conduct") concludes the sūtra. (Source: 84000)

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'

Prajñā - One of the key terms for wisdom or knowledge, most often having the sense of insight, transcendent knowledge, or perhaps gnosis. In some contexts it can also refer to cognition or intellectual understanding. Skt प्रज्ञा  Tib ཤེས་རབ་  Ch 般若  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता  Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་  Ch 空;空門  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt पारमिता  Tib ཕར་ཕྱིན།;ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།  Ch 波羅蜜  

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Vīrya - Diligence is the joyful and consistent effort applied to virtuous actions and spiritual practice. It acts as the engine that drives progress and prevents laziness or discouragement on the path. Skt वीर्य  Tib བརྩོན་འགྲུས་  Ch 精進  

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