dy destroyed, life departed; his heart without thought,
his intellect dispersed; his spirit gone, his form withered and decayed;
stretched out as a dead log; family ties broken--all his friends who
once loved him, clad in white cerements, now no longer delighting to
behold him, remove him to lie in some hollow ditch tomb." The prince
hearing the name of Death, his heart constrained by painful thoughts, he
asked, "Is this the only dead man, or does the world contain like
instances?" Replying thus he said, "All, everywhere, the same; he who
begins his life must end it likewise; the strong and lusty and the
middle-aged, having a body, cannot but decay and die." The prince was
now harassed and perplexed in mind; his body bent upon the chariot
leaning-board, with bated breath and struggling accents, stammered thus,
"Oh worldly men! how fatally deluded! beholding everywhere the body
brought to dust, yet everywhere the more carelessly living; the heart is
neither lifeless wood nor stone, and yet it thinks not 'all is
vanishing!'" Then turning, he directed his chariot to go back, and no
longer waste his time in wandering. How could he, whilst in fear of
instant death, go wandering here and there with lightened heart! The
charioteer remembering the king's exhortation feared much nor dared go
back; straightforward then he pressed his panting steeds, passed onward
to the gardens, came to the groves and babbling streams of crystal
water, the pleasant trees, spread out with gaudy verdure, the noble
living things and varied beasts so wonderful, the flying creatures and
their notes melodious; all charming and delightful to the eye and ear,
even as the heavenly Nandavana.

Putting Away Desire

On the prince entering the garden the women came around to pay him
court; and to arouse in him thoughts frivolous; with ogling ways and
deep design, each one setting herself off to best advantage; or joining
together in harmonious concert, clapping their hands, or moving their
feet in unison, or joining close, body to body, limb to limb; or
indulging in smart repartees, and mutual smiles; or assuming a
thoughtful saddened countenance, and so by sympathy to please the
prince, and provoke in him a heart affected by love. But all the women
beheld the prince, clouded in brow, and his god-like body not exhibiting
its wonted signs of beauty; fair in bodily appearance, surpassingly
lovely, all looked upwards as they gazed, as when we call upon the moon