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

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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.]

Buddha-carita, or The Life of Buddha - 160 kśo ’pyakśakīrtiśrīrhlāda cakre ’nyacakṣuṣam | kumudānāmiva śaracchuklapakṣādicadramāḥ || 12.95 (12.98) 95. Though thin, yet with his glory and his beauty unimpaired, he caused gladness to other eyes, as the autumnal moon in the beginning of her bright fortnight gladdens the lotuses. tvagasthiśeṣo niḥśeṣairmedaḥpiśitaśoṇitaiḥ | kṣīṇo ’pyakṣīṇagābhīryaḥ samudra iva sa vyabhāt || 12.96 (12.99) 96. Having only skin and bone remaining, with his fat, flesh and blood entirely wasted, yet, though diminished, he still shone with undiminished grandeur like the ocean. atha kaṣṭatapaḥspaṣṭavyarthakliṣṭatanurmuniḥ | bhavabhīrurimā cakre buddhi buddhatvakākṣayā || 12.97 (12.100) 97. Then the seer, having his body evidently emaciated to no purpose in a cruel selfmortification; — dreading continued existence, thus reflected in his longing to become a Buddha: nāya dharmo virāgāya na bodhāya na muktaye | jabumūle mayā prāpto yastadā sa vidhirdhruvaḥ || 12.98 (12.101) 98. ‘This is not the way to passionlessness, nor to perfect knowledge, nor to liberation; that was certainly the true way which I found at the root of the Jambu 1 tree. na cāsau durbalenāptu śakyamityāgatādaraḥ | śarīrabalavddhyarthamida bhūyo ’nvacitayat || 12.99 (12.102) 99. ‘But that cannot be attained by one who has lost his strength’, — so resuming his care for his body, he next pondered thus, how best to increase his bodily vigour: kṣutpipāsāśramaklātaḥ śramādasvasthamānasaḥ | prāpnuyānmanasāvāpya phala kathamanirvtaḥ || 12.100 (12.103) 100. ‘Wearied with hunger, thirst, and fatigue, with his mind no longer self-possessed through fatigue, how should one who is not absolutely calm reach the end which is to be attained by his mind? nirvtiḥ prāpyate samyaksatatedriyatarpaṇāt | satarpitedriyatayā manaḥsvāsthyamavāpyate || 12.101 (12.104) 101. ‘True calm is properly obtained by the constant satisfaction of the senses; the mind’s self-possession is only obtained by the senses being perfectly satisfied. 1 The rose apple, see V, 8.

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buddha

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tasya

pleasures

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

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