Part 1: Incarnation as Padmasena

In the continent Dhātakīkhaṇḍa in East Videha in the province named Bharata there is a jewel of a city, named Mahāpurī.^[1] Its king was Padmasena, the abode of Padmā, who was invincible and accessible because of his merits, like the ocean. Chief of the strong and discerning, he made the teaching of the Jinas advance unbroken in his own mind, like his own command in the country. He always felt extreme disgust with existence, though dwelling in this worldly existence like a poor house. Thus disgusted with existence, he went to the teacher Sarvagupta, like a traveler wearied by the road going to a fine tree. He took initiation under him and guarded it completely, like a poor man money that has been acquired, like a sonless man a son. By means of the powerful sthānas, devotion to the Arhats, et cetera, which he observed fittingly, he acquired the bodymaking karma of a Tīrthakṛt. After practicing severe penance for a long time and completing his life, he died and became a powerful god in Sahasrāra.