King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

whose noble fame travelled far and wide.” 34 The Chinese traditionalso affirmed that out of the 80,000 stūpas constructedby Aśoka, one nineteenth were assigned to China and one ofthem was identified as a stūpa on the hill Yo-wan-shan nearNingpo. 35 Even more significant as a mark of Chinese esteemis that monasteries and pagodas were constructed by imperialcommand in honour of Aśoka (A-yo). 36One may conclude from these data, that Aśoka the Emperoras a historical personage mattered little to Northern Buddhistsand, as such, there existed no need to record and preserveaccurate information about his career. The more exaggeratedhis devotion to Buddhism and his munificence to theBuddhist Order, the more he became worthy of adoration andemulation.4. Aśoka of the Sri Lankan Pali SourcesThe most fertile source of historical information on Aśokahas been the Pali literature of Sri Lanka, which recorded theTheravāda tradition on the introduction of Buddhism to theisland and its development there. Events in India figure in thistradition as far as they led to the establishment of Buddhism inSri Lanka. 37 Thus, apart from the life of the Buddha, the threeCouncils at which were rehearsed and formulated the BuddhistCanon and the schisms and schools occupied their mainattention. In this tradition, Aśoka commanded paramountimportance as patron of the Third Council, the promoter ofthe missionary movement to propagate Buddhism widely, andfinally the father of the two great missionaries Mahinda andSaṅghamittā, to whom Sri Lanka owes its Buddhist Order.As opposed to the attitude of the Northern Buddhists to195