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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> - 145<br />

16. ‘O best <strong>of</strong> hearers, hear this our firmly-settled the<strong>or</strong>y, how our<br />

m<strong>or</strong>tal existence arises and how it revolves.<br />

17. “The evolvent" and "the evolute," birth, old age, and death, –<br />

know that this has been called the reality <strong>by</strong> us; do thou receive our<br />

w<strong>or</strong>ds, O thou who art stedfast in thy nature.<br />

18. ‘But know, O thou who art deep in the search into the nature <strong>of</strong><br />

things, that the five elements, egoism, intellect, and "the<br />

unmanifested" are the "evolvents;"<br />

19. ‘But know that the "evolutes" consist <strong>of</strong> intellect, external objects,<br />

the senses, and the hands, feet, voice, anus, and generative <strong>or</strong>gan, and<br />

also the mind.<br />

20. ‘There is also a something which bears the name kṣetrajña, from<br />

its knowledge <strong>of</strong> this "field" (kṣetra <strong>or</strong> the body); and those who<br />

investigate the soul call the soul kṣetrajña.<br />

21. ‘Kapila with his disciple became the illuminated, – such is the<br />

tradition; and he, as the illuminated, with his son is now called here<br />

Prajāpati.<br />

22. ‘That which is b<strong>or</strong>n and grows old and is bound and dies, – is to<br />

be known as "the manifested," and "the unmanifested" is to be<br />

distinguished <strong>by</strong> its contrariety.

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