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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> - 196<br />

83. <strong>Buddha</strong>, the chief <strong>of</strong> saints, abs<strong>or</strong>bed in contemplation, shone<br />

f<strong>or</strong>th, arousing the w<strong>or</strong>ld, having emitted in the darkness <strong>of</strong> the night<br />

a light from the tuft <strong>of</strong> hair between his eyebrows.<br />

84. When it became dawn, Brahman and the other gods, and the<br />

various rulers <strong>of</strong> the different w<strong>or</strong>lds, besought Sugata to turn the<br />

wheel <strong>of</strong> the Law.<br />

85. When the Jina <strong>by</strong> his silence uttered an assenting ‘so be it,’ they<br />

returned to their own abodes; and the lion <strong>of</strong> the Śākyas also shone<br />

there, still remaining lost in contemplation.<br />

86. Then the four divinities (<strong>of</strong> the Bodhi tree), Dharmaruci and the<br />

rest, addressed him, ‘Where, O teacher <strong>of</strong> the w<strong>or</strong>ld, will the holy one<br />

turn the wheel <strong>of</strong> the Law?’<br />

87. ‘In Vārāṇasī, in the Deer Park will I turn the wheel <strong>of</strong> the Law;<br />

seated in the fourth posture O deities, I will deliver the w<strong>or</strong>ld.’<br />

88. There the holy one, the bull <strong>of</strong> the Śākya race, pondered, ‘F<strong>or</strong><br />

whom shall I first turn the wheel <strong>of</strong> the Law?’<br />

89. The gl<strong>or</strong>ious one reflected that Rudraka and Arāḍa were dead,<br />

and then he remembered those others, the five men united in a w<strong>or</strong>thy<br />

society, who dwelt at Kāśī.<br />

90. Then <strong>Buddha</strong> set out to go joyfully to Kāśī, manifesting as he<br />

went the manifold supernatural course <strong>of</strong> life <strong>of</strong> Magadha.

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