Many teachers, they say, wanted him to follow them. He accepted a place at the foot of a skilled scribe. In three weeks the scribe was learning from him. He accepted a place by the side of a court musician. He no sooner learned how to tune, when he began to compose. An artist asked him to visit. Caṇḍa Ānanda stayed for three days— until his brush stroke made things come alive. A librarian invited Caṇḍa Ānanda to learn from him. Caṇḍa Ānanda stayed awake for thirty days and thirty nights, during which he read every scripture, every sutra, every epic, and every inscription, which he could later recite from memory.
Saint Caṇḍa Ānanda