The Buddha-Carita

91
Buddha-carita, or The Life of Buddha
dÔùñvà ca saüsàramaye mahaughe magnaü jagatpàramaviüdamànam |
yaècedamuttàrayituü pravÔttaþ kaècinnayettasya tu pàpamàryaþ || 13.64
64. `He who, when he beholds the world drowned in the great flood of existence and
unable to reach the further shore, strives to bring them safely across, Þ would any
right-minded soul offer him wrong?
kùamàèipho dhairyavigàóhamålaècàritrapuùpaþ smÔtibuddhièàkhaþ |
jÿànadrumo dharmaphalapradàtà notpàñanaü hyarhati vardhamànaþ || 13.65
65. `The tree of knowledge, whose roots go deep in firmness, and whose fibres are
patience, Þ whose flowers are moral actions and whose branches are memory and
thought, Þ and which gives out the law as its fruit, Þ surely when it is growing it
should not be cut down.
baddhàü dÔóhaiècetasi mohapàèairyasya prajàü mokùayituü manãùà |
tasmin jighàüsà tava nopapannà èràüte jagadbaüdhanamokùahetoþ || 13.66
66. `Him whose one desire is to deliver mankind bound in soul by the fast snares of
illusion, Þ thy wish to overthrow him is not worthy, wearied as he is for the sake of
unloosing the bonds of the world.
bodhàya karmàõi hi yànyanena kÔtàni teùàü niyato 'dya kàlaþ |
sthàne tathàsminnupaviùña eùa yathaiva pårve munayastathaiva || 13.67
67. `To-day is the appointed period of all those actions which have been performed by
him for the sake of knowledge, Þ he is now seated on this seat just as all the previous
saints have sat.
eùà hi nàbhirvasudhàtalasya kÔtsnena yuktà parameõa dhàmnà |
bhåmerato 'nyo 'sti hi na pradeèo veèaü samàdherviùayo hitasya || 13.68
68. `This is the navel of the earth's surface, endued with all the highest glory; there is
no other spot of the earth than this, Þ the home of contemplation, the realm of wellbeing.
tanmà kÔthàþ èokamupehi èàütiü mà bhånmahimnà tava màra mànaþ |
vièraübhituü na kùamamadhruvà èrãècale pade kiü padamabhyupaiùi || 13.69
69. `Give not way, then, to grief but put on calm; let not thy greatness, O Màra, be
mixed with pride; it is not well to be confident, Þ fortune is unstable, Þ why dost
thou accept a position on a tottering base?'
173
Buddha-carita, or The Life of Buddha
tataþ sa saüèrutya ca tasya tadvaco mahàmuneþ prekùya ca niùprakaüpatàm |
jagàma màro vimanà hatodyamaþ èarairjagaccetasi yairvihanyase || 13.70
70. Having listened to his words, and having seen the unshaken firmness of the great
saint, Màra departed dispirited and broken in purpose 1 with those very arrows by
which, O world, thou art smitten in thy heart.
gatapraharùà viphalãkÔtaèramà praviddhapàùàõakaóaügaradrumà |
dièaþ pradudràva tato 'sya sà camårhatàèrayeva dviùatà dviùaccamåþ || 13.71
71. With their triumph at an end, their labour all fruitless, and all their stones, straw,
and trees thrown away, that host of his fled in all directions, like some hostile army
when its camp has been destroyed by the enemy.
dravati saparapakùe nirjite puùpaketau jayati jitatamaske nãrajaske mahàrùau |
yuvatiriva sahàsà dyauècakàèe sacaüdrà surabhi ca jalagarbhaü puùpavarùaü
papàta || 13.72
72. When the flower-armed god 2 thus fled away vanquished with his hostile forces and
the passionless sage remained victorious, having conquered all the power of darkness,
the heavens shone out with the moon like a maiden with a smile, and a sweet-smelling
shower of flowers fell down wet with dew.
tathàpi pàpãyasi nirjite gate dièaþ praseduþ prababhau nièàkaraþ |
divo nipeturbhuvi puùpavÔùñayo raràja yoùeva vikalmaùà nièà | 13.73*
73. 3 When the wicked one thus fled vanquished, the different regions of the sky grew
clear, the moon shone forth, showers of flowers fell down from the sky upon the earth,
and the night gleamed out like a spotless maiden. 4
iti èrãbuddhacarite mahàkàvye 'èvaghoùakÔte
màravijayo nàma trayodaèaþ sargaþ || 13 ||
[Such is the thirteenth chapter in the great poem øri Buddhacarita,
written by Aèvaghosa, called Defeat of Màra]
1
I read hatodyamo.
2
Màra identified with Kàmadeva, cf. ver. 2.
3
Should we read tathà hi for tathàpi? [Ed. this verse is quite rightly rejected as spurious by
Johnson.]
4
[Ed: the following is slightly incorrect as the original part of Aèvaghoùa's work continues up
to Chapter XIV, verse 31 (as numbered in Cowell's edition) as has been established by
Johnson.]
Here the original work of Aèvaghoùa ends according to the gloss at the close of the Cambridge
MS.C; the four remaining books were added, to supply an old lacuna, by AmÔtànanda a
modern Nepalese author. The Chinese and Tibetan translations seem to agree with the
Sanskrit for part of the fourteenth book, but they soon diverge widely from it. The four
books are included in the translation as a literary curiosity.
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