Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 129
37. ‘Therefore having passed through the deceptive period of youth,
fickle, intent on external objects, heedless, impatient, not looking at
the distance, – they take breath like men who have escaped safe
through a forest.
38. ‘Let therefore this fickle time of youth first pass by, reckless and
giddy, – our early years are the mark for pleasure, they cannot be
kept from the power of the senses.
39. Or if religion is really thy one aim, then offer sacrifices, – this is
thy family’s immemorial custom, – climbing to highest heaven by
sacrifices, even Indra, the lord of the winds, went thus to highest
heaven.
40. ‘With their arms pressed by golden bracelets, and their variegated
diadems resplendent with the light of gems, royal sages have reached
the same goal by sacrifices which great sages reached by selfmortification.’
41. Thus spoke the monarch of the Magadhas, who spoke well and
strongly like Indra; but having heard it, the prince did not falter,
(firm) like the mountain Kailāsa, having its many summits variegated
(with lines of metals).
[Such is the tenth chapter in the great poem Śri Buddhacarita,
written by Aśvaghosa, called Śreṇya’s Visit]