Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 152
70. ‘For I consider that the embodied soul, though freed from the
evolutes and the evolvents, is still subject to the condition of birth and
has the condition of a seed.
71. ‘Even though the pure soul is declared to be "liberated," yet as
long as the soul remains there can be no absolute abandonment of it.
72. ‘If we abandon successively all this triad, yet "distinction" is still
perceived; as long as the soul itself continues, there this triad
continues in a subtil form.
73. ‘It is held (by some) that this is liberation, because the
"imperfections" are so attenuated, and the thinking power is inactive,
and the term of existence is so prolonged;
74. ‘But as for this supposed abandonment of the principle of egoism,
– as long as the soul continues, there is no real abandonment of
egoism.
75. ‘The soul does not become free from qualities as long as it is not
released from number and the rest; therefore, as long as there is no
freedom from qualities, there is no liberation declared for it.
76. ‘There is no real separation of the qualities and their subject; for
fire cannot be conceived, apart from its form and heat.
77. ‘Before the body there will be nothing embodied, so before the
qualities there will be no subject; how, if it was originally free, could
the soul ever become bound