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

Buddha-carita, or The Life of Buddha - 159
1 tatpūrva pacedriyavaśoddhatān |
tapaḥ vratino bhikṣūn paca niraikṣata || (12.91)
(Then he saw five mendicants who had come there before him; they had taken vows on themselves an
practised austerities, vaunting themselves of control of the five senses.)
pacopatasthurdṣṭvātra bhikṣavasta mumukṣavaḥ |
puṇyārjitadhanārogyamidriyārthā iveśvaram || 12.89 (12.92)
89. Five mendicants, desiring liberation, came up to him when they beheld him there,
just as the objects of the senses come up to a percipient who has gained wealth and
health by his previous merit.
sapūjyamānastaiḥ prahvairvinayānatamūrtibhiḥ |
tadvaśasthāyibhiḥ śiṣyairlolairmana ivedriyaiḥ || 12.90 (12.93)
90. Being honoured by these disciples who were dwelling in that family, as they bowed
reverently with their bodies bent low in humility, as the mind is honoured by the
restless senses,
mtyujanmātakaraṇe syādupāyo ’yamityatha |
duṣkarāṇi samārebhe tapāsyanaśanena saḥ || 12.91 (12.94)
91. And thinking, ‘this may be the means of abolishing birth and death,’ he at once
commenced a series of difficult austerities by fasting.
upavāsavidhīn nekān kurvan naradurācarān |
varṣāṇi ṣaṭkarmaprepsurakarotkārśyamātmanaḥ || 12.92 (12.95)
92. For six years, vainly trying to attain merit, 2 he practised self-mortification,
performing many rules of abstinence, hard for a man to carry out.
annakāleṣu caikaikaiḥ sakolatilataḍulaiḥ |
apārapārasasārapāra prepsurapārayat || 12.93 (12.96)
93. At the hours for eating, he, longing to cross the world whose farther shore is so
difficult to reach, broke his vow with single jujube fruits, sesame seeds, and rice.
dehādapacayastena tapasā tasya yaḥ ktaḥ |
sa evopacayo bhūyastejasāsya kto ’bhavat || 12.94 (12.97)
94. But the emaciation which was produced in his body by that asceticism, became
positive fatness through the splendour which invested him.
1 [Ed: Johnson’s edition inserts this verse here, along with the translation. The numbering in
Johnson’s edition is again affected by this change.]
2 This is the Tibetan reading [las·ni thob·bzhed lo drug·tu, ‘wishing to obtain (the fruits of good)
works, during six years’. H.W.]