The Buddha-Carita or The Life of Buddha by Aśvaghoṣa ed & tr by Edward B Cowell with Suppl Material from the EH Johnston 1935 Edn (2005).pdf

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The Buddha-Carita,
or The Life of Buddha
by Aśvaghoṣa
edited and translated by
Edward B. Cowell
Table of Contents (detail)
Preface
Introduction
Book I: [Bhagavatprasūtiḥ]
Book II: [Antaḥpuravihāro]
Book III: [Saṁvegotpattiḥ]
Book IV: [Strīvighātano]
Book V: [Abhiniṣkramaṇo]
Book VI: [Chaṁdakanivartanaṁ]
Book VII: [Tapovanapraveśo]
Book VIII: [Aṁtaḥpuravilāpo]
Book IX: [Kumārānveṣaṇo]
Book X: [Śreṇyābhigamano]
Book XI: [Kāmavigarhaṇo]
Book XII: [Arāḍadarśano]
Book XIII: [Māravijayo]
Book XIV
Preface
The text and translation of Buddhacarita presented here is for the most part that
printed in The Buddhacarita or Life of Buddha by Aśvaghoṣa, which was edited and
translated by Professor Edward B. Cowell (first published in 1894 [text] & 1895
[translation], reprinted together New Delhi, 1977). The readings and translation have
been supplemented by E.H. Johnson’s text and translation entitled Aśvaghoṣa’s
Buddhacarita or Acts of the Buddha (first published in Lahore, 1936; reprinted Delhi,
1995).
The Sanskrit text has been made from a database prepared by Peter Schreiner in
February 1990, which contained the pausa form of both Cowell’s and Johnson’s texts
in ASCII format, which I have converted to normal diacritics (the diactrical system
employed is described below). I hope at a later date to prepare a text with the pausa
form analysis included, which will be a help to students studying the text.
The text and translation presented here represents the first fourteen chapters of
Aśvaghoṣa’s text, with the beginning supplemented by the spurious verses found at
translation (only) from the Tibetan and Chinese sources to round off Chapter
Fourteen. Major discrepencies between the two editions have been noted and
occasionally supplementary material from Johnson’s edition has been included.
I have entered Cowell’s notes to the translation, as they often provide interesting
cross references, and I have also prepared his Introduction to the translation of the
text. I have not entered his notes to the text though, as I hope at a later date to be
able to make a full comparison with Johnson’s edition.
The text itself has been presented with a metrical analysis elsewhere on this website,
and an English only version of the translation, which contains the translation of
which is omitted here as it throws no light on Aśvaghoṣa’s original work.
The system of transliteration of Eastern scripts that was used in the Sacred Books of
the East was later felt to have a number of disadvantages to it, and went out of
fashion after the series was completed. Therefore in preparing this book for
electronic publication I have taken the opportunity to update the presentation in this
regard to a standard which is most commonly in use, and is in agreement with the
other texts used on this website.
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
August 2005
4
Introduction
The Sanskrit text of the Buddha-carita was published at the beginning of last year
[i.e 1893] in the ‘Anecdota Oxoniensia,’ and the following English translation is now
included in the series ‘Sacred Books of the East.’ It is an early Sanskrit poem written
in India on the legendary history of Buddha, and therefore contains much that is of
interest for the history of Buddhism, besides its special importance as illustarating
the early history of classical Sanskrit literature.
It is ascribed to Aśvaghoṣa; and although there were several writers who bore that
name, it seems most probable that our author was the contemparary and spiritual
advisor of Kaniṣka in the first century of our era. Hiouen Thsang, who left India in
A. D. 645, mentions him with Deva, Nāgārjuna, and Kumāralabdha, ‘as the four suns
which illumine the world;’
1
but our fullest account is given by I-tsing, who visited
India in 673. He states that Aśvaghoṣa was an ancient author who composed the
Alaṅkāra-śāstra and the Buddha-carita-kāvya, — the latter work being of course the
present poem. Besides these two works he also composed the hymns in honour of
Buddha and the three holy beings Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāma,
which were chanted at the evening service of the monasteries. ‘In the five countries
of India and in the countries of the Southern ocean they recite these poems, because
they express a store of ideas and meaning in a few words.’
2
A solitary stanza (VIII,
13) is quoted from the Buddha-carita in Rāyamukuṭa’s commentary on the
Amarakoṣa I, i. 1, 2, and also by Ujjvaladatta in his commentary on the Uṇādi-sūtras
I, 156; and five stanzas are quoted as from Aśvaghoṣa in Vallabhadeva’s
Subhāṣitāvali, which bear a great resemblance to his style, though they are not found
in the extant portion of this poem.
3
The Buddha-carita was translated into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa in the fifth century,
and a translation of this was published by the Rev. S. Beal in the present series [of
the Sacred Books of the East]; it was also translated into Tibetan in the seventh or
eighth century. The Tibetan as well as the Chinese version consists of twenty-eighth
chapters, and carries down the life of Buddha to his entrance into Nirvāṇa and the
subsequent division of the sacred relics. The Tibetan version appears to be much
closer to the original Sanskrit than the Chinese; in fact from its verbal accuracy we
can often reproduce the exact words of the original, since certain Sanskrit words are
always represented by the same Tibetan equivalents, as for instance, the prepositions
prefixed to verbal roots. I may here express an earnest hope that we may ere long
have an edition and translation of the Tibetan version, if some scholar can be found
to complete Dr. Wendzel’s unfinished labour. He had devoted much time and thought
to the work; I consulted him in several of my difficulties, and it is from him that I
derived all my information about the Tibetan renderings. This Tibetan version
1
2
4
Julien’s translation, vol ii, p. 214.
See M. Fujishama, Journal Asiatique, 1888, p. 425.
3
Professo
-
śataka.
4
We have for the present classed the Buddha-carita with the Mahāyāna Sūtras in default of
more exact information.

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