The Buddha-Carita or The Life of Buddha by Ven. Aśvaghoṣa

Buddha-carita, or The Life of Buddha - 117
jābūnada harmyamiva pradīpta viṣeṇa sayuktamivottamānnam |
grāhākula ca sthita [.. .. .. .. .. .. ..] ramya vyasanāśraya ca 1 || 9.41
41. ‘The golden palace seems to me to be on fire; the daintiest viands seem mixed with
poison; infested with crocodiles 2 [is the tranquil lotus-bed].’
ittha ca rājya na sukha na dharmaḥ pūrve yathā jātaghṇā naredrāḥ |
vayaḥprakarṣe ’parihāryaduḥkhe rājyāni muktvā vanameva jagmuḥ || 9.42
42. And thus kingship is neither pleasure nor dharma, so that the kings of old, when
age came on with it’s unavoidable suffering, felt disgust and, giving up their kingdoms,
betook themselves to the forest.
vara hi bhuktāni tṇānyaraṇye toṣa para ratnamivopaguhya |
sahoṣita śrīsulabhairna caiva doṣairadśyairiva kṣṇasarpaiḥ || 9.43
43. For it is better to eat herbs in the forest, embracing the highest contentmentas if
one were concealing a jewel, than tio live with the dangers to which sovereignty is
exposed, as if with loathsome black snakes.
ślāghya hi rājyāni vihāya rājñā dharmābhilāṣeṇa vana praveṣṭum |
bhagnapratijñasya na tūpapanna vana parityajya gha praveṣṭum || 9.44
44. For it is praiseworthy for kings to leave their kingdoms and enter the forest in the
desire for dharma, but it is not fitting to break one’s vow and forsaking the forest to go
to one’s home.
jātaḥ kule ko hi naraḥ sasattvo dharmābhilāṣeṇa vana praviṣṭaḥ |
kāṣāyamutsjya vimuktalajjaḥ puradarasyāpi pura śrayeta || 9.45
45. For what man of resolution and good family, having once gone to the forest in the
desire for dharma, would cast off the robe and, dead to shame, proceed to the city even
of Puradara?
1 Johnson reads: grāhākula ca ambviva sāra vinda rājya hi ramya vyasanāśraya ca,
and translates the whole verse: ‘For kingship is at the same time full of delights and the
vehicle of calamity, like a golden palace all on fire, like dainty food mixed with poison, or
like a lotus-pond infested with crocodiles.’
2 The remainder of the prince’s speech is lost. By Beal’s translation from the Chinese, fifteen
verses are wanting. [Ed: the lacunae (which are here given in italics), are filled in in the text
and translation presented here from Johnson’s edition, where it appears that in fact only 10
verses were lost to Cowell’s manuscripts. The numbers in italics for the rest of this chapter are
given from Johnson’s edition which necessarily parts company with Cowell’s at this point.]