Asvaghosa's Buddhacarita: The Life of the Buddha (Sanskrit Text Word-by-Word translation Melodies for Chanting and Verses in English Grammatical Explanation)

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Preface The Main work on the Buddhacarita was completed in 1989 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The book could not then not be published, because the computer fonts given to me were not laserprinter compatible; since I hade not worked with Computers earlier, I had not Understood this problem in time. Due to many visa problems in Nepal I moved to Varanasi, India, to continue my Sanskrit studies. There I retyped the whole manuscript, with a different lay-out, as it is now. However, the printing company with whom I had made an arrangement, again in the end could not produce proper laserprints most probably due to a virus infection. Since nobody else in Varanasi had the laserfont that I had been using there for the Devanagari, I gave up working on the Buddhacarita in 1991, but two years later I took courage again and went to the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, in Sarnath, Varanasi, to discuss my computer problems and publication of the book.

Venerable Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, the Director of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, and Acarya Geshe Nawang Sherab, the librarian, both immediately showed keen interest in the book, and allowed me to finish the computer work at their Institute. I feel especially grateful to Acarya Geshe Nawang Sherb-la for his never-ending optimism and encouragement regarding this work.

The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies used a Devanagari font with the same computer key-board lay-out as the font I had used in Varanasi, so there I substituted all Devanagari in the text, resulting in the book as it is now being published. Somehow this computer work continued to give problems, and I feel greatly indebted to Acarya Geshe Nawang Sherab, Mr. Pasang Thackchhoe, and Mr. Tashi Dhondup at the central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, and Mr. Bruce Graham in Varanasi, for their help and patience at solving these computer problems.

Also, Mr. Bruce Graham spent time to chant all English verse with me, and, being a Sanskrit scholar, in many instances of 'metrical' problems in the English verse thought of better solutions, so that due to his help many verse have been improved, for which I want to express my heartfelt thanks. We realize however that several verses are still not prefect, and I would be pleased to receive comments regarding the English verses from who are using this book.

I also like to thank Prof. Dr. S. S. Bahulkar at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, for his advice on points of grammar.

Any suggestion to improve a next will be greatly appreciated. I hope the book will be of use.

Contents

	Introduction	i
	About metres and Melodies	I
	Sanskrit Text, English verses, verses, Translation	1
	Canto I, The Birth of the Holy one	2
	Canto II, Life in the Palace	22
	Canto III, The Arising of Vexation	36
	Canto IV, The rejection of the women	52
	Canto V, The Going forth	76
	Canto VI, The Dismissal of Chandaka	98
	Canto VII, Entrance into the penance grove	114
	Canto VIII, Lamentation in the Palace	128
	Canto IX, The Search for the Prince	148
	Canto X, Srenya's visit	168
	Canto XI, Admonition of the Passions	178
	Canto XII, The visit to Arada	196
	Canto XIII, The Victory over mara	222
	Canto XIV, The Enlightenment	238
	Grammatical Explanations of Canto I	254