The Buddha-Carita or The Life of Buddha by Ven. Aśvaghoṣa
A Sanskrit and English line by line (interlinear) version of one of the most important and influential biographies of the Buddha (together with extensive annotation).
A Sanskrit and English line by line (interlinear) version of one of the most important and influential biographies of the Buddha (together with extensive annotation).
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<strong>Buddha</strong>-carita, <strong>or</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Buddha</strong> - 87<br />
agrāmyamanna salilaprarūḍha parṇāni toya phalamūlameva |<br />
yathāgama vttiriya munīnā bhinnāstu te te tapasā vikalpāḥ || 7.14<br />
14. ‘Uncultivated food, growing out <strong>of</strong> the water, leaves, water, and roots and fruits,<br />
— this is the fare <strong>of</strong> the saints acc<strong>or</strong>ding to the sacred texts; but the different<br />
alternatives <strong>of</strong> penance vary.<br />
uchena jīvati khagā ivānye tṇāni kecinmgavaccarati |<br />
kecidbhujagaiḥ saha vartayati valmīkabhūtā iva mārutena || 7.15<br />
15. ‘Some live like the birds on gleaned c<strong>or</strong>n, others graze on grass like the deer,<br />
others live on air with the snakes, as if turned into ant-hills. 1<br />
aśmaprayatnārjitavttayo ’nye kecitsvadatāpahatānnabhakṣāḥ |<br />
ktvā parārtha śrapaṇa tathānye kurvati kārya yadi śeṣamasti || 7.16<br />
16. ‘Others win their nourishment with great eff<strong>or</strong>t from stones, others eat c<strong>or</strong>n<br />
ground with their own teeth; some, having boiled f<strong>or</strong> others, dress f<strong>or</strong> themselves<br />
what may chance to be left.<br />
kecijjalaklinnajaṭākalāpā dviḥ pāvaka juhvati matrapūrvam |<br />
mīnaiḥ sama kecidapo vigāhya vasati kūrmollikhitaiḥ śarīraiḥ || 7.17<br />
17. ‘Others, with their tufts <strong>of</strong> matted hair continually wet with water, twice <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
oblations to Agni with hymns; others plunging like fishes into the water dwell there<br />
with their bodies scratched <strong>by</strong> t<strong>or</strong>toises.<br />
evavidhaiḥ kālacitaistapobhiḥ parairdiva yātyaparairnlokam |<br />
duḥkhena mārgeṇa sukha kṣiyati duḥkha hi dharmasya vadati mūlam ||<br />
7.18<br />
18. ‘By such penances endured f<strong>or</strong> a time, — <strong>by</strong> the higher they attain heaven, <strong>by</strong> the<br />
lower the w<strong>or</strong>ld <strong>of</strong> men; <strong>by</strong> the path <strong>of</strong> pain they eventually dwell in happiness, —<br />
pain, they say, is the root <strong>of</strong> merit.’<br />
ityevamādi dvipadedravatsaḥ śrutvā vacastasya tapodhanasya |<br />
adṣṭatattvo ’pi na satutoṣa śanairida cātmagata jagāda || 7.19<br />
19. <strong>The</strong> king’s son, having heard this speech <strong>of</strong> the ascetic, even though he saw no<br />
l<strong>of</strong>ty truth in it, 2 was not content, but gently uttered these thoughts to himself:<br />
1 Cf. the legend <strong>of</strong> the princess Sukanyā, given in Wilson’s note, Hindu Drama, I, p. 263.<br />
2 Cf. Beal, 517 (<strong>or</strong> perhaps ‘though he had not himself yet attained the highest truth’).
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