Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 74
Book VI [The Dismissal of Chaṁdaka]
1. Then when the sun, the eye of the world, was just risen, he, the
2. Its deer all asleep in quiet trust, its birds tranquilly resting, – seeing
it he too became restful, and he felt as if his end was attained.
3. For the sake of ending his wonder and to show reverence for the
penances observed, and as expressing his own conformity therewith,
he alighted from the back of his horse.
4. Having alighted, he stroked the horse, exclaiming, ‘All is saved,’
and he spoke well-pleased to Chaṁdaka, bedewing him as it were
with tears from his eyes :
5. ‘Good friend, thy devotion to me and thy courage of soul have been
proved by thy thus following this steed whose speed is like that of
Tārkṣya.
6. ‘Bent even though I am on other business, I am wholly won in heart
by thee, – one who has such a love for his master, and at the same
time is able to carry out his wish.
7. ‘One can be able without affection, and affectionate though unable;
but one like thee, at once affectionate and able, is hard to find in the
world.