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ā ī ū ṛ ṝ ḷ
ḹ ’ ṃ ḥ ṅ ñ
ṭ ḍ ṇ ṣ ś ź
š č ǰ γ    
Note on the transliteration:
The transliteration system of the BP/TLB is based on the Unicode/UTF-8 system. However, there may be difficulties with some of the letters – particularly on PC/Windows-based systems, but not so much on the Mac. We have chosen the most accepted older and traditional systems of transliteration against, e.g, Wylie for Tibetan, since with Unicode it is possible, in Sanskrit and Tibetan, etc., to represent one sound with one letter in almost all the cases (excepting Sanskrit and Tibetan aspirated letters, and Tibetan tsa, tsha, dza). We thus do not use the Wylie system which widely employs two letters for one sound (ng, ny, sh, zh etc.).
 
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Aśvaghoṣa: Saundarananda
    Click to Expand/Collapse Option Complete text
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO I: Kapilavāstuvarṇana
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO II: Rājavarṇana
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO III: Tathāgatavarṇana
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO IV: Bhāryāyācitaka
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO V: Nandapravrājana
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO VI: Bhāryāvilāpa
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO VII: Nandivilāpa
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO VIII: Strīvighāta
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO IX: Madāpavāda
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO X: Svarganidarśana
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO XI: Svargāpavāda
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO XII: Paryavamarśa
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO XIII: Śīlendriyajaya
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO XIV: Ādiprasthāno
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO XV: Vitarkaprahāṇa
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO XVI: Āryasatyavyākhyāna
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO XVII: Amṛtādhigama
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCANTO XVIII: Ājñāvyākaraṇa
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atha saṃrādhito nandaḥ śraddhāṃ prati maharṣinā |
parikṣikto ’mṛteneva yuyuje parayā mudā || 
13.1 And so, Nanda was affirmed by the great seer, in the matter of confidence;
He felt filled with the deepest joy, as if drenched in the deathless nectar.  
kṛtārtham iva taṃ mene saṃbuddhaḥ śraddhayā tayā |
mene prāptam iva śreyaḥ sa ca buddhena saṃskṛtaḥ || 
13.2 To the Fully Awakened Buddha, by virtue of that confidence, he seemed already to be a success;
And to himself, having been initiated by the Buddha, he felt as though he had arrived already on the better path.  
ślakṣṇena vacasā kāṃś cit kāṃś cit paruṣayā girā |
kāṃś cid ābhyām upāyābhyāṃ sa vininye vināyakaḥ || 
13.3 Some in soothing tones; some with tough talk,
Some by both these means, he the trainer trained. 
pāṃsubhyaḥ kāñcanaṃ jātaṃ viśuddhaṃ nirmalaṃ śuci |
sthitaṃ pāṃsuṣv api yathā pāṃsudoṣair na lipyate || 
13.4 Just as gold born from dirt is pure, spotless, gleaming,
And while lying in the dirt is not tarnished by the dirt’s impurities, 
padmaparṇaṃ yathā caiva jale jātaṃ jale sthitham |
upariṣṭād adhastād vā na jalendopalipyate || 
13.5 And just as a lotus-leaf is born in water and remains in water,
But neither above nor below is sullied by the water, 
tadval loke munir jāto lokasyānugrahaṃ caran |
kṛtitvān nirmalatvāc ca lokadharmair na liyate || 
13.6 So the Sage, born in the world, and acting for the benefit of the world,
Because of his state of action, and spotlessness, is not tainted by worldly things.  
śleṣaṃ tyāgaṃ priyaṃ rūkṣaṃ kathāṃ ca dhyānam eva ca |
mantukāle cikitsārthaṃ cakre nātmānuvṛttaye || 
13.7 Joining with others and leaving them; love and toughness; and talking, as well as meditation itself:
He used these means during his instruction for the purpose of healing, not to make a following for himself.  
ataś ca saṃdadhe dāyaṃ mahākaruṇayā tayā |
mocayeyaṃ kathaṃ duḥkhāt sattvānīty anukampakaḥ || 
13.8 Thus did the benevolent one, out of his great compassion, take on a form
By which he might release fellow living beings from suffering.  
atha saṃharṣaṇān nadaṃ viditvā bhājanīkṛtam |
abravīd bruvatāṃ śreṣṭhaḥ kramajñaḥ śreyasāṃ kramam || 
13.9 Seeing, then, that by boosting Nanda he had made a receptacle,
The best of speakers, the knower of processes, spoke of better ways as a process:  
ataḥ prabhṛti bhūyas tvaṃ śraddhendriyapuraḥsaraḥ |
amṛtasyāptaye saumya vṛttaṃ rakṣitum arhasi || 
13.10 “Starting afresh from here, my friend, with the power of confidence leading you forward,
In order to get to the nectar of deathlessness you should watch the manner of your action.  
prayogaḥ kāyavacasoḥ śuddho bhavati te yathā |
uttāno nivṛto gupto ’navacchidras tathā kuru || 
13.11 So that the use of body and voice becomes simple for you,
Make it expansive and open, and guarded, and free from disconnectedness –  
uttāno bhāvakarañād vivṛtaś cāpy agūhanāt |
gupto rakṣaṇatātparyād acchidraś cānavadyataḥ || 
13.12 Expansive by reality’s doing; open from not hiding;
Guarded because aimed at prevention; and unbroken through absence of fault. 
śarīravacasoḥ śuddhau saptāṅge cāpi karmaṇi |
ājīvasamudācāraṃ śaucāt saṃskartum arhasi || 
13.13 With regard for purity of body and voice, and with regard also for the sevenfold [prohibition on bodily and vocal] conduct,
You should work to perfect a proper way of making a living, on the grounds of integrity – 
doṣānāṃ kuhanādīnāṃ pañcānām aniṣevaṇāt |
tyāgāc ca jyotiṣādīnāṃ caturṇāṃ vṛttighātinām || 
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;  
prāṇidhānyadhanādīnāṃ varjyānām apratigrahāt |
bhaiṣāṅgānāṃ nisṛṣṭānāṃ niyatānāṃ pratigrahāt || 
13.15 On the grounds of not accepting things to be avoided, such as valuables linked to the needless killing of living creatures;
On the grounds of accepting the established rules for begging, with their definite limits; 
partiuṣṭaḥ śucir mañjuś caukṣayā jīvasaṃpadā |
kuryā duḥkhapratīkāraṃ 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.  
karmaño hi yathādṛṣtāt kāyavākprabhavād api |
ājīvaḥ pṛthag evokto duḥṣodhatvād ayaṃ mayā || 
13.17 Separately from overt action, and from the origin of the use of body and voice,
I have spoken of making a living because it is so hard to make a pure one –  
gṛhasthena hi duḥśobdhā dṛṣṭir vividhadṛṣṭinā |
ājīvo bhikṣuṇā caiva pareṣṭāyattavṛttinā || 
13.18 For hard to be washed away is the view of a househoulder with his many and various concerns,
And also [hard to be kept pure] is the livelihood of a beggar whose subsistence depends on others. 
etāvac chīlam ity uktam ācāaro ’yaṃ samāsataḥ |
asya nāśena naiva syāt pravrajyā na gṛhasthatā || 
13.19 Such is termed “the discipline of integrity.” In sum, it is conduct;
Without it there could truly be no going forth, nor state of being at home. 
tasmāc cāritrasaṃpanno brahmacaryam idaṃ cara |
aṇumātreṣv avadyeṣu bhayadarśi dṛḍhavrataḥ || 
13.20 Steeped in good conduct, therefore, lead this life of devout abstinence,
And in what is even minutely blameworthy see danger, being firm in your purpose. 
śīlam āsthāya vartante sarvā hi śreyasi kriyāḥ |
sthānādyāniva kāryāṇi pratiṣṭhāya vasundharām || 
13.21 For founded on integrity unfurl all actions on the better path,
Just as events like standing unfold, when [a force] resists the earth. 
mokṣasyopaniṣat saumya vairāgyam iti gṛhyatām |
vairāgasyāpi saṃvedaḥ saṃvido jñānardarśanam || 
13.22 Let it be grasped, my friend, that release is seated in dispassion,
Dispassion in conscious awareness, and conscious awareness in knowing and seeing. 
jñānasyopaniṣac caiva samādhir upadhāryatām |
samādher apy upaniṣat sukhaṃ śarīramānasam || 
13.23 And let it be experienced, again, that the knowing is seated in a stillness
And that the seat of the stillness is a body-mind at ease. 
paśrabdhiḥ kāyamanasaḥ sukhasyopaniṣatparā |
praśabdher apy upaniṣat prāmodyaṃ paramaṃ mamatam || 
13.24 An assurance on which sits ease of the body-mind is of the highest order,
And the assurance is seated in enjoyment. Again, let this be realised in experience. 
tathaḥ prīter upaniṣat prāmodyaṃ paramaṃ matam |
prāmodyasyāpy ahṛllekhaḥ kukṛteṣv akṛteṣu vā || 
13.25 The enjoyment is seated in a great happiness which, similarly, is understood to be of the highest order;
And the happiness is seated in a freedom from furrowing the heart over things done badly or not done. 
ahṛllekhasya manasaḥ śīlaṃ tūpaniṣac chuci |
ataḥ śīlaṃ nayaty agryam iti śīlaṃ viśodhaya || 
13.26 But the freedom of the mind from remorse is seated in pristine practice of integrity.
Therefore, [realising] that integrity comes first, purify the discipline of integrity.  
śīlanāc chīlam ity uktaṃ śīlanaṃ sevanād api |
sevanaṃ tannideśāc ca nideśaś ca tadāśrayāt || 
13.27 The discipline of integrity is so called because it comes out of repeated practice; repeated practice comes out of devotion to training;
Devotion to training comes out of direction in it; and direction comes out of submitting to that direction. 
śīlaṃ hi śaraṇaṃ saumya kāntāra iva daiśikaḥ |
mitraṃ bandhuś ca rakṣā ca dhanaṃ ca balam eva ca || 
13.28 For the discipline of integrity, my friend, is the refuge: it is like a guide in the wilderness,
It is friend, kinsman, and protector; it is wealth, and it is strength.  
yataḥ śīlam ataḥ saumya śīlaṃ saṃskartum arhasi |
etat sthānam athānye ca mokṣārambheṣu yogināṃ || 
13.29 Since the discipline of integrity is such, my friend, you should work to perfect the discipline of integrity.
Among those who practise, moreover, this is the stance taken in different endeavours whose aim is freedom. 
tataḥ smṛtim adhiṣṭhāya capalāni svabhāvataḥ |
indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyo nivārayitum arhasi || 
13.30 On this basis, standing grounded in awareness, you should hold back the naturally impetuous senses from the objects of those senses. 
bhetavyaṃ na tathā śatror nāgner nāher na cāśaneḥ |
indriyebhyo yathā svebhyas tair ajasraṃ hi hanyate || 
13.31 There is less to fear from an enemy or from fire, or from a snake, or from lightning,
Than there is from one’s own senses; for through them one is forever being smitten. 
dviṣabdhiḥ śatrubhiḥ kaś cit kadā cit pīḍyate na vā |
indriyair bādhyate sarvaḥ sarvatra ca sadaiva ca || 
13.32 Some people some of the time are beleaguered by hateful enemies – or else they are not.
Besieged through the senses are all people everywhere, all of the time. 
na ca prayāti narakaṃ śatruprabhṛthibhir hataḥ |
kṛṣyate tatra nighnas tu capalair indriyair hataḥ || 
13.33 Nor does one go to hell when smitten by the likes of an enemy;
But meekly is one pulled there when smitten through the impetuous senses.  
hanyamānasya tair duḥkhaṃ hārdaṃ bhavati vā na vā |
indriyair bādhyamānasya hārdaṃ śārīram eva ca || 
13.34 The pain of being smitten by those others may occur in the heart – or else it may not.
The pain of being oppressed through one’s senses is a matter of the heart and indeed of the body.  
saṃkalpaviṣadigdhā hi pañcendriyamayāḥ śarāḥ |
cintāpuṅkhā raiphalā viṣayākāśagocarāḥ || 
13.35 For smeared with the poison of conceptions, are those arrows, produced from five senses,
Whose tails are anxiety, whose tips are thrills, and whose range is the vast emptiness of objects.  
manuṣyahariṇān ghnanti kāmavyādheritā hṛdi |
vihanyante yadi na te tataḥ patanti taiḥ kṣatāḥ || 
13.36 Fired off by Desire, the hunter, they strike human fawns in the heart;
Unless they are warded away, men wounded by them duly fall.  
niyamājirasaṃsthena dhairyakārmukadhāriṇā |
nipatanto nivāryās te mahatā smṛtivarmaṇā || 
13.37 Standing firm in the arena of restraint, and bearing the bow of resolve,
The mighty man, as they rain down, must fend them away, wearing the armour of awareness.  
indriyāṇām upaśamād arīṇāṃ nigrahād iva |
sukhaṃ svapiti vāste vā yatra tatra gatoddhavaḥ || 
13.38 From ebbing of the power of the senses, as if from subjugation of enemies,
One sleeps or sits at ease, in joyful recreation, wherever one may be.  
teṣāṃ hi satataṃ loke viṣayāṇ abhikāṅkṣatām |
saṃvin naivāsti kārpaṇyāc chunām āśāvatām iva || 
13.39 For in the constant hankering of those senses after objects in the world,
There occurs out of that ignominy no more consciousness than there is in the hoping of hounds.  
viṣayair indriyagrāmo na tṛptim adhigacchati |
ajasraṃ pūryamāṇo ’pi samudraḥ salilair iva || 
13.40 A cluster of sense organs is no more sated by objects,
Than is the ocean, even when constantly filled, by water.  
avaśyaṃ gocare sve sve vartitavyam ihendriyaiḥ |
nimittaṃ tatra na grāhyam anuvyañjanam eva ca || 
13.41 It is necessarily through the senses, each in its own sphere, that one must function in this world.
But not to be seized upon in that realm is an objectified image or any secondary sexual sign: 
ālokya cakṣuṣā rūpaṃ dhātumātre vyavasthitaḥ |
strī veti puruṣo veti na kalpayitum arhasi || 
13.42 On seeing a form with your eye [you] are contained in the sum of the elements:
The conception that ‘it is a woman’ or ‘it is a man’ you should not frame. 
sacet strīpuruṣagrāhaḥ kva cid vidyeta kās cana |
śubhataḥ keśadantādīn nānuprasthātum arhasi || 
13.43 If a notion of woman or man does intrude at any time in relation to anyone,
Upon hair, teeth, and the rest, for their beauty, you should not dwell. 
nāpaneyaṃ bhūtato bhūtaṃ śaśvad indiyagocare |
draṣṭavyaṃ bhūtato bhūtaṃ yādṛṣaṃ ca yathā ca yat || 
13.44 Nothing, then, is to be taken away and nothing is to be added:
The reality is to be investigated as it really is, whatever and however it is.  
evaṃ te paśyatas tattvaṃ śaśvad indriyagocare |
bhaviṣyati padasthānaṃ nābhiyādaurmanasyayoḥ || 
13.45 In your observing what is, like this, always in the territory of the senses,
There will be no foothold for longing and dejection. 
abhidhyā priyarūpeṇa hanti kāmātmakaṃ jagat |
arir mitramukheneva priyavākkaluṣāśayaḥ || 
13.46 Longing, using cherished forms, smites the sensual masses:
A foe who has a friendly face, she’s fair of speech and foul of heart. 
daurmanasyābhidhānas tu pratigho viṣayāśritaḥ |
mohād yenānuvṛttena paratreha ca hanyate || 
13.47 Conversely, what is called dejectedness is, in connection with an object, a contrary reaction
By going along with which, in one’s ignorance, one is smitten hereafter, and smitten here and now.  
anurodhavirodhābhyāṃ śitoṣṇābhyām ivārditaḥ |
śarma nāpnoti na śreyaś calendricam ato jagat || 
13.48 When, by getting and not getting his way, [a man] is pained as if by cold or heat,
He finds no refuge; nor arrives on a better path: hence the unsteady sense-power of the masses. 
nendriyaṃ viṣaye tāvat pravṛttam api sajjate |
yāvan na manasas tatra parikalpaḥ pravartate || 
13.49 And yet the power of the senses, though operative, need not become glued to an object,
So long as in the mind, with regard to that object, illusion is not operating. 
indhane sati vāyau ca yathā jvalati pāvakaḥ |
viṣayāt parikalpāc ca kleśāgnir jāyate tathā || 
13.50 Just as a fire burns only where fuel and air co-exist,
So a fire of affliction arises, from an object and from illusion.  
abhūtaparikalpena viṣayasya hi badhyate |
tam eva viṣayaṃ paśyan bhūtataḥ parimucyate || 
13.51 For through an unreal illusion one is bound to an object;
Seeing that very same object as it really is, one is set free.  
dṛṣṭvaikaṃ rūpam anyo hi rajyate ’nyaḥ praduṣyati |
kaś cid bhavati madhyasthas tatraivānyo ghṛṇāyate || 
13.52 On seeing one and the same form this man is enamoured, that man is disgusted;
Somebody else remains in the middle; while yet another feels thereto a human warmth. 
ato na viṣayo hetur bandhāya na vimuktaye |
parikalpaviṣeṣeṇa saṃgo bhavati vā na vā || 
13.53 Thus, an object is not the cause of bondage or of liberation;
It is due to particular illusions that attachment arises or does not.  
kāryaḥ paramayatnena tasmād indiyasaṃvaraḥ |
indriyāṇi hy aguptāni duḥkhāya ca bhavāya ca || 
13.54 Through effort of the highest order, therefore, contain the power of the senses;
For unguarded senses make for suffering and for becoming. 
kāmabhogabhogavadbhir āmadṛṣṭidṛṣṭibhiḥ pramādanaikamūrdhabhiḥ praharṣalolajivaiḥ |
indriyoragair manobilaśayaiḥ spṛhāviṣaiḥ śamāgadā ṛte na daṣṭam asti yac cikitset || 
13.55 The senses are like serpents coiled in sensual enjoyment with eyes of selfish views, their many heads are heedlessness and their flickering tongues are excitement:
The snaky senses lurk in mind-pits, their venom eager desire; and when they bite there is no cure, save the antidote of cessation. 
tasmād eṣām akuṣalakarāṇām arīṇāṃ cakṣurghrāṇaśravañarasanasparśanānām |
sarvāvasthaṃ bhava viniyamād apramatto māsminn arthe kṣaṇam api kṛthāsa tvaṃ pramādaṃ || 
13.56 Therefore, towards those mischief-making foes, seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, and feeling,
Show in every situation a vigilance born of restraint. In this matter you are not for an instant to be heedless. 
saundaranande mahākāvye śīlendriyajayo nāma trayodaśaḥ sargaḥ || 
The 13th Canto of the epic poem Handsome Nanda, titled “Defeating the Power of the Senses through the Discipline of Integrity.” 
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