Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 202
Book XVI of The Buddha-carita continuation by
Am
1. The omniscient lion of the Śākyas then caused all the assembly,
headed by those who belonged to the company of Maitrīya, to turn
the wheel of the Law.
2. ‘Listen, O company belonging to Maitrīya, ye who form one vast
congregation, – as it was proclaimed by those past arch-saints, so is it
now proclaimed by Me.
3. ‘These are the two extremes, O mendicants, in the self-control of
the religious ascetic, – the one which is devoted to the joys of desire,
vulgar and common,
4. ‘And the other which is tormented by the excessive pursuit of selfinflicted
pain in the mortification of the soul’s corruptions, – these are
the two extremes of the religious ascetic, each devoted to that which
is unworthy and useless.
5. ‘These have nothing to do with true asceticism, renunciation of the
world, or self-control, with true indifference or suppression of pain,
or with any of the means of attaining deliverance.
6. ‘They do not tend to the spiritual forms of knowledge, to wisdom,
nor to Nirvāṇa; let him who is acquainted with the uselessness of
inflicting pain and weariness on the body,