Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 148
39. ‘Through these causes, O wise prince, the stream of "torpor" is set
in motion; be pleased to consider that in the absence of the cause
there is the absence of the effect.
40. ‘Let the wise man who has right views know these four things, O
thou who desirest liberation, – the illuminated and the unilluminated,
the manifested and the unmanifested.
41. ‘The soul, having once learned to distinguish these four properly,
having abandoned all (ideas of) straightness or quickness, attains to
the immortal sphere.
42. ‘For this reason the Brāhmans in the world, discoursing on the
supreme Brahman, practise here a rigorous course of sacred study and
let other Brāhmans live with them to follow it also.’
43. The prince, having heard this discourse from the seer, asked
concerning the means and the final state.
44. ‘Wilt thou please to explain to me how, how far, and where this
life of sacred study is to be led, and the limit of this course of life’
45. Then Arāḍa, according to his doctrine, declared to him in another
way that course of life clearly and succinctly.
46. ‘The devotee, in the beginning, having left his house, and assumed
the signs of the mendicant, goes on, following a rule of conduct which
extends to the whole life.