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

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Buddha-carita, or The Life of Buddha - 61 kṣataḥ puruṣāśca vīkṣamāṇaḥ pavanārkāśurajovibhinnavarṇān | vahanaklamaviklavāśca dhuryān paramāryaḥ paramā kpā cakāra || 5.6 6. And beholding the men as they were ploughing, their complexions spoiled by the dust, the sun’s rays, and the wind, and their cattle bewildered with the burden of drawing, the most noble one felt extreme compassion. avatīrya tatasturagapṣṭhācchanakairgā vyacarat śucā parītaḥ | jagato jananavyaya vicinvan kpaṇa khalvidamityuvāca cārttaḥ || 5.7 7. Having alighted from the back of his horse, he went over the ground slowly, overcome with sorrow, — pondering the birth and destruction of the world, he, grieved, exclaimed, ‘this is indeed pitiable.’ manasā ca viviktatāmabhīpsuḥ suhdastānanuyāyino nivārya | abhitāralacāruparṇavatyā vijane mūlamupeyivān sa jabvāḥ || 5.8 8. Then desiring to become perfectly lonely in his thoughts, having stopped those friends who were following him, he went to the root of a rose-apple in a solitary spot, which had its beautiful leaves all tremulous (in the wind). niṣasāda ca patrakhoravatyā bhuvi vaidūryanikāśaśādvalāyām | jagataḥ prabhavavyayau vicitya manasaśca sthitimārgamālalabe || 5.9 9. There he sat down on the ground covered with leaves, 1 and with its young grass bright like lapis lazuli; and, meditating on the origin and destruction of the world, he laid hold of the path that leads to firmness of mind. samavāptamanaḥ sthitiśca sadyo viṣayecchādibhirādhibhiśca muktaḥ | savitarkavicāramāpa śāta prathama dhyānamanāśravaprakāram || 5.10 10. Having attained to firmness of mind, 2 and being forthwith set free from all sorrows such as the desire of worldly objects and the rest, he attained the first stage of contemplation, unaffected by sin, calm, and ‘argumentative.’ 3 adhigamya tato vivekaja tu paramaprītisukha [manaḥ] samādhim | idameva tataḥ para pradadhyau manasā lokagati niśamya samyak || 5.11 11. Having then obtained the highest happiness sprung from deliberation, 1 he next pondered this meditation, — having thoroughly understood in his mind the course of the world: 1 The MSS. add -khoravatyā, an obscure word, which may be connected with khura or perhaps should be altered to koravatyā, i.e. ‘covered with sharp-pointed leaves’, or ‘covered with leaves and buds’. [The Tibetan has gcan·mar ldan·pai sa·gzhi der·ni de zhugs·te, ‘on the pure ground here he sitting’. This might point to so ’tra śaucavatyā H.W.] 2 Query, śamavāptamanaḥsthitiḥ for -manāḥsthiteḥ. 3 Śavitarka, cf. Yoga-sūtras I, 42. (Read anāsrava-).
Buddha-carita, or The Life of Buddha - 62 kpaṇa vata yajjanaḥ svaya sannaraso vyādhijarāvināśadharmaḥ | jarayārditamātura mta vā paramajño vijugupsate madādhaḥ || 5.12 12. ‘It is a miserable thing that mankind, though themselves powerless 2 and subject to sickness, old age, and death, yet, blinded by passion and ignorant, look with disgust on another who is afflicted by old age or diseased or dead. iha cedahamīdśaḥ svaya san vijugupseya para tathāsvabhāvam | na bhavetsadśa hi tatkṣama vā parama dharmamima vijānato me || 5.13 13. ‘If I here, being such myself, should feel disgust for another who has such a nature, it would not be worthy or right in me who know this highest duty.’ iti tasya vipaśyato yathāvajjagato vyādhijarāvipattidoṣān | balayauvanajīvitapravttau vijagāmātmagato madaḥ kṣaṇena || 5.14 14. As he thus considered thoroughly these faults of sickness, old age, and death which belong to all living beings, all the joy which he had felt in the activity of his vigour, his youth, and his life, vanished in a moment. na jaharṣa na cāpi cānutepe vicikitsā na yayau na tadrinidre | na ca kāmaguṇeṣu sararaje na ca didveṣa para na cāvamene || 5.15 15. He did not rejoice, he did not feel remorse; he suffered no hesitation, indolence, nor sleep; he felt no drawing towards the qualities of desire; he hated not nor scorned another. iti buddhiriya ca nīrajaskā vavdhe tasya mahātmano viśuddhā | puruṣairaparairadśyamānaḥ puruṣaścopasasarpa bhikṣuveśaḥ || 5.16 16. Thus did this pure passionless meditation grow within the great-souled one; and unobserved by the other men, there crept up a man in a beggar’s dress. naradevasutastamabhyapcchadvada ko ’sīti śaśasa so ’tha tasmai | sa ca pugava janmamtyubhītaḥ śramaṇaḥ pravrajito ’smi mokṣahetoḥ || 5.17 17. The king’s son asked him a question, — he said to him, ‘Tell me, who art thou?’ and the other replied, ‘Oh bull of men, I, being terrified at birth and death, have become an ascetic for the sake of liberation. 1 Two syllables are lost in this line. [Ed: The metre is defective in Cowell’s version here, as he mentions in a footnote. Johnson’s reading of manaḥ here fills the lacuna.] 2 Arasaḥ.
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The Buddha-Carita or The Life of Buddha by Ven. Aśvaghoṣa

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