26.03.2016 Views

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.

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>Buddha</strong>-<strong>carita</strong>, <strong>or</strong> <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Buddha</strong> - 147<br />

31. ‘That is called "in<strong>or</strong>dinate attachment," <strong>by</strong> which the fool is<br />

entangled in external objects through his mind, speech, actions, and<br />

thoughts, O thou who hast shaken thyself free from all attachments.<br />

32. ‘The misery which a man imagines <strong>by</strong> the ideas "This is mine," "I<br />

am connected with this," is to be recognised as "gravitation," – <strong>by</strong> this<br />

a man is b<strong>or</strong>ne downwards into new births.<br />

33. ‘Thus Ign<strong>or</strong>ance, O ye wise, being fivefold in its character,<br />

energises towards t<strong>or</strong>p<strong>or</strong>, delusion, the great delusion, and the two<br />

kinds <strong>of</strong> darkness.<br />

34. ‘Know, that among these indolence is "t<strong>or</strong>p<strong>or</strong>," death and birth are<br />

"delusion," and be it clearly understood, O undeluded one, that desire<br />

is the "great delusion."<br />

35. ‘Since <strong>by</strong> it even the higher beings are deluded, theref<strong>or</strong>e, O hero,<br />

is this called the "great delusion."<br />

36. ‘They define anger, O thou angerless one, as "darkness;" and<br />

despondency, O undesponding, they pronounce to be the "blind<br />

darkness."<br />

37. ‘The child, entangled in this fivefold ign<strong>or</strong>ance, is effused in his<br />

different births in a w<strong>or</strong>ld abounding with misery.<br />

38. ‘He wanders about in the w<strong>or</strong>ld <strong>of</strong> embodied existence, thinking<br />

that I am the seer, and the hearer, and the thinker, – the effect and<br />

the cause.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!