Mike Cross: Aśvaghoṣa's Gold

Saundarananda - 371
uttāno bhāva-karaṇād vivṛtaś cāpy agūhanāt /
gupto rakṣaṇa-tātparyād acchidraś cānavadyataḥ // 13.12 //
Expansive by reality’s doing; open from not hiding; / Guarded because aimed at prevention; and
unbroken through absence of fault. // 13.12 //
śarīra-vacasoḥ śuddhau saptāṅge cāpi karmaṇi /
ājīva-samudācāraṁ śaucāt saṁskartum arhasi // 13.13 //
With regard for purity of body and voice, and with regard also for the sevenfold [prohibition on
bodily and vocal] conduct, 1070 / You should work to perfect a proper way of making a living, on
the grounds of integrity 1071 – // 13.13 //
doṣāṇāṁ kuhanādīnāṁ pañcānām aniṣevaṇāt /
tyāgāc ca jyotiṣādīnāṁ caturṇāṁ vṛtti-ghātinām // 13.14 //
On the grounds of not indulging the five faults, beginning with hypocrisy; / On the grounds of
fleeing the four predators of practice, such as astrology; // 13.14 //
prāṇi-dhānya-dhanādīnāṁ varjyānām apratigrahāt /
bhaikṣāṅgānāṁ nisṛṣṭānāṁ niyatānāṁ pratigrahāt // 13.15 //
On the grounds of not accepting things to be avoided, such as valuables linked to the needless
killing of living creatures; 1072 / On the grounds of accepting the established rules for begging,
with their definite limits; // 13.15 //
parituṣṭaḥ śucir mañjuś caukṣayā jīva-saṁpadā /
kuryā duḥkha-pratīkāraṁ yāvad eva vimuktaye // 13.16 //
As a person who is contented, pristine, and pleasant, you can, through making a living cleanly
and well, / Counteract suffering all the way to liberation. // 13.16 //
1070
Of the ten precepts alluded to in SN Canto 3, there seem to be seven that specifically prohibit wrong
physical and vocal conduct, namely: not inflicting needless suffering on any living being, not stealing,
not chasing married women; along with not lying, not gossiping, not hurting others with smooth
speech, and not slandering others (see verses 3.30–33).
1071
“On the grounds of integrity” is śaucāt. Śauca is given in the dictionary as 1. cleanness, 2. purity of
mind, integrity, honesty (especially in money matters). This verse alludes to the three elements of
threefold integrity (śīla) within the noble eightfold path. Those three elements are using the voice well,
using the body well, and earning a clean living (see SN16.31).
1072
EHJ's original text has prāṇi-dhānya-dhanādīnāṃ (living creatures, grain, money and so on), but EHJ
noted that Gawronski's prāṇi-ghāta-dhanādīnāṃ may well be right. Prāṇi-ghātin means killing living
beings, so that Gawronski's amendment could mean 'such things as money [procured from needless]
killing of living beings' or 'goods [whose production has involved needless] killing of living beings' or
'valuables [whose acquisition has involved needless] killing of living beings.' It is difficult to see why
grain would have been avoided.