The Great Teacher Śākyamuni Buddha
transmitted his method of Sitting to
The Great Teacher Mahākāśyapa
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Ānanda
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Śāṇavāsa
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Upagupta
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Dhītaka
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Micchaka
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Vasumitra
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Buddhanandi
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Baddhamitra
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Pārśva
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Puṇyayaśas
who transmitted it to
The Great Teacher Aśvaghoṣa.
So Aśvaghoṣa was 12th in the line of succession of the true method of Sitting, counting from the Buddha.
Aśvaghoṣa, who was probably living around two thousand years ago, maybe four or five hundred years after the Buddha's death, wrote two long poems entitled Buddhacarita, "The Buddha's Career," and Saundarananda, "Handsome Nanda."
Buddhacarita, only about half of which survives in the original Sanskrit, is a biography of the Buddha. Saundarananda, the Sanskrit of which is more or less complete, is the story of how the Buddha uses expedient means to lead his half-brother, Nanda, to the ultimate peace of nirvāṇa.
The Oxford Sanskrit scholar E.H. Johnston produced English translations of Saundaranada in 1928 and Buddhacarita in 1936. It might be difficult, for me certainly, to produce translations that are more faithful to the original Sanskrit than Johnston's are. The Clay Sanskrit Library has recently published new translations, based on Johnston's, by Patrick Olivelle (Buddhacarita, 2008) and Linda Covill (Saundarananda, 2007). These are possibly more elegant translations, or at least more easy on a 21st century ear.
Though not confident of being able to match any of the above translations in fidelity to the original Sanskrit or in elegance of English, I hope that more than 25 years of sitting-zen practice, and of familiarity with Zen Master Dogen's four-phased dialectical method, will stand me in good stead for translating the four-line stanzas of Ashvaghosha's epic poems. I hope, in other words, that with the following attempts at translation, I might be able to serve Ashvaghosha. I hope at least not do a disservice to him.
-- Mike Cross, 2009
oṁ namo buddhāya
Om! Homage to the Buddha!
