This work presents a biographical account of the Buddha as composed by the Buddhist poet Asvaghosha and preserved through a layered transmission from Sanskrit into Chinese, and from Chinese into English.
Focusing on the Buddha's birth, princely life, renunciation, spiritual discipline, enlightenment, and teaching mission, it offers a narrative shaped by devotional, ethical, and philosophical concerns central to early Buddhist literature. Situated within the tradition of poetic hagiography, the text reflects the values, imagery, and doctrinal emphases of Indian Buddhism as they were understood and transmitted across cultures. Themes of compassion, impermanence, self-discipline, and liberation from suffering run throughout the narrative.
As both a religious biography and a literary document of transmission, the book provides enduring insight into how the life of the Buddha was understood, revered, and retold across languages and traditions.