Tuesday, May 12, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Asvaghosha
Tibetan-preserved Buddhist verse texts attributed to Asvaghosha on impermanence, grief, ethics, and the path.
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Texts
Alleviating Sorrow — AsvaghoshaA letter on grief by one of Buddhism's greatest poets, arguing that death comes for all beings — even Buddhas, even Brahma, even a thousand Indras — and that the only fitting response is to abandon attachment and turn toward liberation. First English translation.Discourse on the Eight Inopportune States — AsvaghoshaA verse treatise by Aśvaghoṣa enumerating the eight conditions unfavorable to spiritual practice — birth in the hells, as a hungry ghost, as an animal, as a long-lived god, among barbarians, with wrong views, in a buddha-less age, or as one with impaired faculties — and urging practitioners to seize the rare opportunity of a human life endowed with leisure.Dispelling Grief — AsvaghoshaA Buddhist consolatio in verse by Aśvaghoṣa (attr.), addressing the grieving mind with arguments from impermanence, cosmic imagery, and the vision of saṃsāric suffering across countless lifetimes. Forty verses from the Degé Tengyur (D4177).Teaching on the Path of the Ten Non-Virtues — AsvaghoshaA systematic verse enumeration of the ten non-virtuous actions attributed to the Indian poet Asvaghosha, drawn from the Buddha's teachings in the Foundations of Mindfulness and Mahayana sutras. First English translation.Verses of Praise of the Gandi — AsvaghoshaAsvaghosha's praise of the monastery bell — a liturgical poem on the Buddha's conquest of Mara, told through the sound of the wooden board that calls monks to assembly.