Buddhacharita

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 2nd century AD. Of the poem's 28 cantos, the first 14 are extant in Sanskrit complete (cantos 15 to 28 are in incomplete form).

In 420, Dharmarakṣa made a Chinese translation, and in the 7th or 8th century, a very accurate Tibetan version was made.

English translations

• E.B. Cowell, The Buddha Carita or the Life of the Buddha. 1894, reprinted with text, New Delhi, 1977.
• Samuel Beal, The Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King. Oxford, 1883. English translation of the Chinese version
• Buddhist Mahâyâna Texts. Oxford, 1894. Cantos 1-13 in English, with four supplementary cantos dating to the 19th century
• E. H. Johnston, The Buddhacarita or Acts of the Buddha. Lahore, 1936. 2 vols. (Cantos 1-14 in Sanskrit and English)
• Patrick Olivelle, 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)

External links

• Cowell's edition in Roman characters with supplements from Johnson's edition
• same in Devanagari characters
• Cowell's text and translation (verse by verse)
• Cowell's translation (only)
• Buddhist Studies: Buddhacarita