Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 85
6. Beholding him, the lamp of the race of Ikṣvāku, shining like the
rising sun, – even though their milking was over, being filled with
joy, the oblation-giving cows poured forth their milk.
7. ‘It is one of the eight Vasus or one of the two Aśvins, descended
here,’ – these words arose, uttered aloud by the sages in their
astonishment at seeing him.
8. Like a second form of the lord of the gods, like the personified
glory of the universe, he lighted up the entire wood like the sun come
down of his own accord.
9. Then he, being duly honoured and invited to enter by those
dwellers in the hermitage, paid his homage to the saints, with a voice
like a cloud in the rainy season.
10. He, the wise one, longing for liberation, traversed that hermitage
filled with the holy company desirous of heaven, – gazing at their
strange penances.
11. He, the gentle one, having seen the different kinds of penance
practised by the ascetics in that sacred grove, – desiring to know the
truth, thus addressed one of the ascetics who was following him:
12. ‘Since this to-day is my first sight of a hermitage I do not
understand this rule of penance; therefore will your honour kindly
explain to me what resolve possesses each one of you.’