King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

Having passed this first checkpoint, however, Aśoka thenencounters a nāga king who further bars his way. Not knowinghow to proceed, he turns to a monk for advice. The monktells him that he will be successful in getting the relics only ifhis merit is greater than that of the nāga. Their relative merit isthen calculated as follows: two statues (rūpa) of identical sizeare made — one of Aśoka and one of the nāga — and are thenweighed. The implication is that he whose statue is the heaviestwill be the one who has the most merit. At first, the nāga’s,statue weighs twice as much as that of Aśoka. Aśoka then hastensto acquire more merit, and gradually his statue gets heavierand heavier until finally it outweighs that of his adversaryand he is able to pass and take away the relics. 63The implications of this story need hardly be spelled out.Here Aśoka clearly overcomes the comparative weaknesseswhich he exhibited in the Aśokāvadāna and the Mahāvaṃsaand which led to his failure to obtain the Buddha-relics. Thistime, there is no stopping him. Indeed, in seemingly direct contradictionto the Mahāvaṃsa, the Thūpavaṃsa would have usbelieve that his success was foretold long ago, for, in its accountof the story, Aśoka is said to find in the relic chamber a goldenplaque that reads: “In the future, a prince named… Aśokawill take these relics and have them widely dispersed.” 644. The 84,000 Stūpas Once MoreThis dispersal of the relics that the Thūpavaṃsa refers to is, ofcourse, none other than the construction of the 84,000 stūpaswhich we examined earlier. This Aśoka-legend too was subjectto evolution in the later tradition. As mentioned, it was tobecome Aśoka’s most famous act, and Buddhist rulers as far170