Samantabhadra was a fearless philosopher who travelled across India debating the schools of his day. His Aptamimamsa asks a bold question — how can we know who is truly worthy of trust as a teacher? — and answers it with Jain many-sidedness. His Ratnakaranda Shravakachara is a guide to the life of a Jain householder still used today.
Tradition tells that as a young monk he was struck by bhasmaka, an illness of endless hunger that no monk's single daily meal could satisfy. With his teacher's permission he set aside his monastic life for a time and lived in a temple in Varanasi, where the offerings could sustain him. When the king demanded that he bow to the temple's image, he began to sing hymns to the twenty-four Tirthankaras — and, the story says, when he reached the eighth, an image of Chandraprabha appeared. Those hymns are the Svayambhu Stotra. Cured, he returned to monastic life.
