)
Buddha's First Sermon', India, 11th century
Buddhacharita ("Acts of the Buddha"; Buddhacaritam, Devanagari बुद्धचरितम्) is an epic poem in the Sanskrit mahakavya style on the life of Gautama Buddha by Aśvaghoṣa, composed in the early second century CE.[1] Of the poem's 28 cantos, the first 14 are extant in Sanskrit complete (cantos 15 to 28 are in incomplete form).
In 420 AD, Dharmakṣema[2] made a Chinese translation, and in the 7th or 8th century, a Tibetan version was made which "appears to be much closer to the original Sanskrit than the Chinese".[3][4]
English translations
- E.B. Cowell, trans. The Buddha Carita or the Life of the Buddha, Oxford, Clarendon 1894, reprint: New Delhi, 1977. PDF (14,8 MB)
- Samuel Beal, trans. The Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King. Oxford, 1883. English translation of the Chinese version PDF (17,7 MB)
- E. H. Johnston, trans. The Buddhacarita or Acts of the Buddha. Lahore, 1936. 2 vols. (Cantos 1-14 in Sanskrit and English). Reprint: Delhi, Motilal Barnasidass 1978
- E. H. Johnston, trans. (1937), "The Buddha's Mission and last Journey: Buddhacarita, xv to xxviii", Acta Orientalia, 15: 26-62, 85-111, 231-292.
- Patrick Olivelle, trans. Life of the Buddha. Clay Sanskrit Library, 2008. 1 vols. (Cantos 1-14 in Sanskrit and English with summary of the Chinese cantos not available in the Sanskrit)
- Willemen, Charles, trans. (2009), Buddhacarita: In Praise of Buddha's Acts, Berkeley, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. ISBN 978-1886439-42-9
Other Language Translations
- Bhaskar Hanumath Kompella, Telugu Translation in the form of Tika (Word by Word meanings) and Tatparya (Substance). Buddha Charitam, Ajo-Vibho-Kandalam Publications, Hyderabad, 2018.
See also
- Lalitavistara Sūtra
References
- ^ Willemen, Charles, transl. (2009), Buddhacarita: In Praise of Buddha's Acts, Berkeley, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, p. XIII.
- ^ University of Oslo, Thesaurus Literaturae Buddhicae: Buddhacarita Taisho Tripitaka T.192
- ^ Sa dbaṇ bzaṇ po and Blo gros rgyal po, "Saṅs rgyas kyi spyod pa źes bya ba´i sñan dṅags chen po" (Tibetan translation of Buddhacarita), in Tg - bsTan ’gyur (Tibetan Buddhist canon of secondary literature), Derge edition, skyes rabs ge, 1b1-103b2.
- ^ E.B. Cowell, trans. The Buddha Carita or the Life of the Buddha, Oxford, Clarendon 1894, reprint: New Delhi, 1977, p. X (introduction).