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

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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.]
Buddha-carita, or The Life of Buddha - 118 lobhāddhi mohādathavā bhayena yo vātamanna punarādadīta | lobhātsa mohādathavā bhayena satyajya kāmān punarādadīta || 9.46 46. For only the man, who from greed, delusion or fear, would take again the food he has vomited up, would from greed, delusion or fear, abondon the lusts of the flesh and then return to them. yaśca pradīptāccharaṇātkathacinniṣkramya bhūyaḥ praviśettadeva | gārhasthyamutsjya sa dṣṭadoṣo mohena bhūyo ’bhilaṣedgrahītum || 9.47 47. And the man who, after escaping with difficulty from a burning house, would enter that very house again, only he, after giving up the state of a householder, because he sees its dangers, would desire out of delusion to assume it again. yā ca śrutirmokṣamavāptavanto npā ghasthā iti naitadasti | śamapradhānaḥ kva ca mokṣadharmo daḍapradhānaḥ kva ca rājadharmaḥ || 9.48 48. As for the tradition that kings obtained final emancipation while remaining in their homes, this is not the case. How can the dharma of salvation in which quietude predominates be reconciled with the dharma of kings in which severity of action predominates? śame ratiścecchithila ca rājya rājye matiścecchamaviplavaśca | śamaśca taikṣṇya ca hi nopapanna śītoṣṇayoraikyamivodakāgnyoḥ || 9.49 49. If a king delights in quietude, his kingdom collapses; if his mind turns to his kingdom, his quietude is ruined. For quietude and severity are incompatible, like the union of water which is cold and fire which is hot. tanniścayādvā vasudhādhipāste rājyāni muktvā śamamāptavataḥ | rājyāgitā vā nibhtendriyatvādanaiṣṭhike mokṣaktābhimānāḥ || 9.50 50. Either therefore these lords of the earth resolutely cast aside their kingdoms and obtained quietude, or stained by kingship, the claimed to have attained liberation on the ground that their senses were under control, but in fact only reached a state that was not final. teṣā ca rājye ’stu śamo yathāvatprāpto vana nāhamaniścayena | chittvā hi pāśa ghabadhusajña muktaḥ punarna pravivikṣurasmi || 9.51 51. Or let it be conceded they duly attained quitude while holding kingship, still I have not gone to the forest with an undecided mind; for having cut through the net known as home and kindred I am freed and have no intention of re-entering the net."
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The Buddha-Carita or The Life of Buddha by Ven. Aśvaghoṣa

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