King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

says to the elder, “Since the Saṅgha is purified, let it performthe uposatha ceremony,” 28 and they do so in concord. Tissathen organizes the Third Council; they compile the scriptures(by reciting them) and he composes the Kathāvatthu, the lastbook in the Pali Abhidhamma Piṭaka. In effect he thus as itwere seals off the Tipiṭaka, the Pali version of the Canon, withthe possible exception of the large “Collection of Minor Texts”(Khuddaka Nikāya) of the Sutta Piṭaka, the contents of whichremained somewhat fluid for many centuries. The Kathāvatthuestablishes or reaffirms Theravādin orthodoxy on a host ofpoints, mostly minor, on which they differed from some orother Buddhist schools.The story of the Third Council is peculiar to the Theravādatradition; evidently it concerned only them. The story of Aśoka’sintervention to purify the Saṅgha is found in other Buddhisttraditions too, though with variant details. It is not corroboratedby inscriptional evidence, as the inscription cited abovedoes not say that Aśoka has actually expelled monks himself;on the other hand, it is almost certain that many of Aśoka’sinscriptions have been lost — new ones are still being discovered— and the argument from silence is weak. The survivinginscription certainly proves that Aśoka took an interest in theunanimity and purity of the Saṅgha. Scholars have treatedthe Theravādin account with scepticism because of variousimplausible features in it. Certainly, it confuses the fortunesof one sect, or perhaps even just one monastery, with those ofBuddhism throughout India: it is impossible to believe that nouposatha ceremony was held in all India for seven years, and inany case Aśoka’s expulsion of pseudo-monks from one monasterywould only have rectified matters in that particular sangha,not in the Saṅgha as a whole. It also seems odd that it should8