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Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha by Ven. Aśvaghoṣa

An English translation of this famous life of the Buddha, one of the great pieces of Sanskrit literature, with additions to help complete the text.

An English translation of this famous life of the Buddha, one of the great pieces of Sanskrit literature, with additions to help complete the text.

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<strong>Buddha</strong>-<strong>carita</strong>, <strong>or</strong> <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Buddha</strong> - 133<br />

the mere thought <strong>of</strong> them unlucky and fatal, – still m<strong>or</strong>e the thought<br />

<strong>of</strong> the irreligious whose lives are spent in their service?<br />

19. ‘Who that considers the paltry flavour <strong>of</strong> w<strong>or</strong>ldly objects, – the<br />

very height <strong>of</strong> union being only insatiety, – the blame <strong>of</strong> the virtuous,<br />

and the certain sin, – has ever drawn near this poison which is called<br />

pleasure?<br />

20. ‘When they hear <strong>of</strong> the miseries <strong>of</strong> those who are intent on<br />

pleasure and are devoted to w<strong>or</strong>ldly pursuits, such as agriculture and<br />

the rest, and the self-content <strong>of</strong> those who are careless <strong>of</strong> pleasure, –<br />

it well befits the self-controlled to fling it away.<br />

21. ‘Success in pleasure is to be considered a misery in the man <strong>of</strong><br />

pleasure, f<strong>or</strong> he becomes intoxicated when his desired pleasures are<br />

attained; through intoxication he does what should not be done, not<br />

what should be done; and being wounded there<strong>by</strong> he falls into a<br />

miserable end.<br />

22. ‘These pleasures which are gained and kept <strong>by</strong> toil, – which after<br />

deceiving leave you and return whence they came, – these pleasures<br />

which are but b<strong>or</strong>rowed f<strong>or</strong> a time, what man <strong>of</strong> self-control, if he is<br />

wise, would delight in them?<br />

23. ‘What man <strong>of</strong> self-control could find satisfaction in these pleasures<br />

which are like a t<strong>or</strong>ch <strong>of</strong> hay, – which excite thirst when you seek<br />

them and when you grasp them, and which they who abandon not<br />

keep only as misery?

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