Introduction to the Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana – D T Suzuki
Acvaghosha, the first expounder of the Mahayanistic doctrine and one of the deepest thinkers among the Buddhist patriarchs, is known to most western Buddhist scholars simply as the author of the Buddha-caritakdvya [Sacred Books of the East Vol XLIX], the famous Poem on the life of Buddha.

 

The accounts of his life and of the significance of his philosophy are so few that the important influence exercised by him upon the development of Mahayana Buddhism has been left almost entirely unnoticed. That he was one of the most eminent leaders among earlier Buddhists; that he was in some way or other connected with the third convocation in Kashmir, probably presided over by the Bhikshu Parcva; that he had a wonderful poetical genius which rendered great service in the propagation of Buddhism, - these facts sum up almost all the knowledge possessed by scholars about Acvaghosha.  The reason why he is not known as he ought to be, is principally that the Sanskrit sources are extremely meagre, while the accounts obtainable from Chinese and Tibetan traditions are confusing and full of legends.

He [Acvaghosha] then went to Pataliputra …, where he composed an excellent tune called Lai cha huo lo, that he might by this means convert the people of the city. Its melody was classical, mournful, and melodious, inducing the audience to ponder on the misery, emptiness, and non-atman-ness of life. That is to say, the music roused in the mind of the hearer the thought that …. this corporeal existence is a sham, is as hollow as a plantain tree, is an enemy, a foe, one not to be intimately related with ; and again that like a box in which a cobra is kept, it should never be cherished by anybody; that therefore all Buddhas denounce persons clinging to a corporeal existence. …

 

Acvaghosha [then] had the melody played by musicians, who, however, not being able to grasp the significance of the piece, failed to produce the intended tune and harmony. He then donned a white woollen dress, joined the band of musicians, beating the drum, ringing the bell, and tuning the lyre, and this done, the melody in full perfection gave a note at once mournful and soothing, so as to arouse in the mind of the audience the idea of the misery, emptiness, and non-atman-ness of all things.  The five hundred royal princes in the city thus moved all at once were fully awakened, and abhorring the curse of the five evil passions abandoned their worldly life and took refuge in the Bodhi. The king of Pataliputra was very much terrified by the event, thinking that if the people who listen to this music would abandon their homes [like the princes], his country would be depopulated and his royal business ruined.  So he warned the people never to play this music hereafter.

Introduction to the Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana –D T Suzuki
It is very strange that those who are considered to be quite well acquainted with the development of the Mahayanistic thought, do not place in the right light a prominent, if not principal actor, who, so far as is known to us, practically initiated this great spiritual and intellectual movement in India… The Awakening of Faith is of paramount importance in its being the first attempt to systematise the fundamental thoughts of Mahayana Buddhism, as well as forming a main authority of all the Mahayanistic schools; those who study the doctrinal history of Buddhism cannot dispense with it.

Life of Acvaghosha – translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva

After that a king of the smaller Yueh chih country [i. e., Tukhira] in North India invaded the Middle country [i.e, Magadha]. When the besieging had continued for some time, the king of Central India sent a message [to the invader] saying:
 “If there be anything you want, I will supply it ; do not disturb the peace of my people by thus long staying here,”  to which this reply was given :
 “If you really ask a surrender, send me 300,000,000 gold pieces; I will release you.”
The [besieged] king said : “Even this entire kingdom cannot produce 100,000,000 gold pieces, how can I supply you with 300,000,000?” The answer was:
“There are in your country, two great treasures:
 (1) the Buddha-bowl
(2) a Bhikshu of wonderful talent (i. e., Agvaghosha).
Give them to me, they are worth 300,000,000 gold pieces.”
The [besieged] king said : “Those two treasures are what I most revere, I cannot give them up.”  Thereupon the Bhikshu said to the king in explanation of the Dharma:

“All sentient beings are everywhere the same, while Buddhism, deep and comprehensive, aims at universal salvation, and the highest virtue of a great man consists in delivering [all] beings. As our temporal administration is very liable to meet obstructions, even your rule does not extend itself outside of this one kingdom. If you, on the other hand, propose a wide propagation of Buddhism, you would naturally be a Dharmaraja over the four oceans. The duty of a Bhikshu is to save [all] the people and not to give preference to one or the other. Merits lie in our heart; truth makes no distinction. Pray, be farsighted, and do not think only of the present.”

The king who was from the first a great admirer of him, respectfully followed his advice and delivered him to the king of Yueh chih who returned with him to his own kingdom.

Journal of the Buddhist Text Society, Vol. I., Part 3,

Kanishka, king of Palhava and Delhi, was born four hundred years after the Nirvana. When he learned that Simha, king of Kashmir, abandoned the worldly life to become a Buddhist priest under the name of Sudarcana and obtained Arhatship, he went to Kashmir and heard a sermon delivered by Sudarcana.  At that time a Mahayana priest who held a most prominent position in northern countries was called Acvaghosha. His influence in the spiritual world was as incomparable as the temporal power of Kanishka who conquered Kashmir and Jalamdhara. The king sent a message to Acvaghosha to come to his kingdom, who, however, owing to his old age, could not accept the invitation, but sent him a leading disciple of his called Jnanayaca, accompanied with a letter treating the essential points of Buddhism.

Transmission of the Dharmapitaka

Acvaghosha, who felt extremely ashamed of his [former] self-assumption, was thinking of attempting his own life. Punyayacas, however, attaining arhatship, entered into a samadhi and divined what was going on in the mind of Acvaghosha. He ordered him to go and bring some books out of the library.
Acvaghosha said to the Acarya : “The room is perfectly dark; how can I get in there?” To this Punyayacas answered “Just go in, and I shall let you have light.”
Then the Acarya through his supernatural power stretched far into the room his right hand whose five fingers each radiating with light illuminated everything inside of the walls. Acvaghosha thought it a mental hallucination, and knowing the fact that a hallucination as a rule disappears when one is conscious of it, he was surprised to see the light glowing more and more.  He tried his magical arts to extinguish it till he felt utterly exhausted, for the mysterious light suffered no change whatever.  Finally coming to realise that it was the work of no other person than his teacher, his spirit was filled with remorse and he henceforth applied himself diligently to religious discipline and never relapsed.

Introduction to the Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana – translated by D T Suzuki
Acvaghosha is the philosopher of Buddhism. His treatise on The Awakening of Faith is recognised by all Northern schools and sects as orthodox and used even to-day in Chinese translations as a text-book for the instruction of Buddhist priests.  The original Sanskrit text has not been found as yet, and if it should not be discovered somewhere in India or in one of the numerous libraries of the Buddhist viharas, it would be a great loss; for then our knowledge of Agvaghosha's philosophy would remain limited to its Chinese translation.

Introduction to the Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana – translated by D T Suzuki
…in this book almost all the Mahayanistic thoughts, as distinguished from the other religious systems in India, are traceable, so that we can take it as the representative text of this school. If the reader will carefully and patiently go through the entire book, unmindful of its peculiar terminology and occasional obscureness, I believe he will be amply and satisfactorily repaid for his labour, and will find that the underlying ideas are quite simple, showing occasionally a strong resemblance to the Upanishad philosophy as well as to the Samkhya system, though of course retaining its own independent thought throughout.

Introduction to the Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana – translated by D T Suzuki
let me say a word about the difficulty of translating such an abstruse religio-philosophic discourse as the present text….. It is comparatively easy to translate works of travels or of historical events or to make abstracts from philosophical works. But a translator of the Mahayanistic writings, which are full of specific phraseology and highly abstruse speculations, will find himself like a wanderer in some unknown region, not knowing how to obtain any communicable means to express what he perceives and feels. To reproduce the original as faithfully as possible and at the same time to make it intelligible enough to the outside reader, who has perhaps never come in contact with this form of thought, the translator must be perfectly acquainted with the Mahayanistic doctrine as it is understood in the East, while he must not be lacking in adequate knowledge of Western philosophy and mode of thinking.

The present translator has done his best to make the Mahayanistic thoughts of Acvaghosha as clear and intelligible as his limited knowledge and lack of philosophic training allow him. He is confident, however, that he has interpreted the Chinese text correctly. In spite of this, some errors may have crept into the present translation, and the translator will gladly avail himself of the criticisms of the Mahayana scholars to make corrections in case a second edition of the work is needed.