The Buddhacarita is the most famous work of Asvaghosa, the well-known Buddhist poet-philosopher supposed to have been a contemporary of King Kaniska of the early 2nd century a.c. Of the twenty-eight cantos of the epic poem a little less than half is now available in the original, but complete translations in Chinese and Tibetan have been preserved. This edition consists of three parts. The first part contains the Sanskrit text and the second the translation of the first fourteen cantos, filling up the lacunae in the Sanskrit from the Tibetan, together with an Introduction dealing with various aspects of the poet`s works, with notes which discuss the many difficulites of text and translation, and an Index. The third part contains translation of Cantos XV-XXVIII based on the available Tibetan and Chinese versions so as to arrive as near the meaning of Asvaghosa`s original text. The poem falls into four distinct quarters of seven cantos describing birth and youth of the hero, enlightenment after long questing, how the Buddha made his discovery by teaching available to all beings, a mission ending with a universal conquest in which the hero converts the rulers and people in many countries to the new doctrine and the events leading up to the Parinirvana of the Buddha.

Originally written in the First Century, A.D. by Asvaghosha. This may be the oldest known story of the complete life of Buddha, having been written in the first century AD. The author was an educated ecclesiastic Buddhist who traveled throughout India collecting stories and traditions relating to the Buddhas life. He was a famous preacher and musician who then wove them into a Sanskrit poem which he performed musically during his travels. The people of India delighted in this magical tale whenever it was performed with the choir of musicians who traveled with him. It holds many facts that other biographies or stories of the Buddha dont have, which makes this work so important. The entire epic is preserved in this rare book, long out of print, which may have otherwise been lost to the western world.