King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

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Aśoka and, by implication, these missions were supported bythe Emperor. At least as far as Sri Lanka was concerned, Aśokacontinued to support the mission by sending sacred objects ofveneration (i.e. relics, Bo-sapling, etc.), additional missionaries,and skilled craftsmen to erect shrines. 52In short, Aśoka was the instrument for the establishment ofBuddhism in Sri Lanka. There was no special sanctity attachedto him and he was not an object of veneration. He was forall purposes only a historical person — the greatest patron ofSri Lankan Buddhism and that was all. The entire TheravādaBuddhist world saw him in that role.5. Aśoka of Edicts and InscriptionsWhile for over 2,000 years, Aśoka was virtually forgotten,piously glorified, or gratefully remembered in each of the traditionswhich are dealt with above, the lithic records in his ownwords awaited discovery and study. It took a hundred yearsfrom the discovery of fragments of the Delhi-Meerut PillarInscription in 1750 by Father Tieffenthaler to the publication ofa representative collection of edicts and inscriptions in Vol. Iof Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum by Alexander Cunninghamin 1879. With the publication of revised texts and translationsby Hultzsch in 1925, students of history had an adequatetool for research although a comprehensive analysis was notattempted until Beni Madhab Barua published his Aśoka andHis Inscriptions in 1945. More inscriptions have been since discoveredand deciphered, among the latest being the four edictsfound in 1969 in the Province of Laghman in Afghanistan.The thirty-four lithic records of Aśoka — the major edicts andinscriptions in multiple copies located thousands of kilometres201
apart — provide substantial information on the virtues whichhe upheld and wished to propagate among his subjects, his tolerantattitude to different religious sects, and the administrativemachinery which he had utilized to spread his message ofDharma. His availability at all times to attend to his kingly dutieswas particularly emphasized. He voiced his concern over the welfareof the people (i.e. “All people are my children”) and resortedto exhortation and restriction as a dual policy for the promotionof Dharma. He recounted the example he had himself set inminimizing the slaughter of animals and published what mightbe the earliest known list of protected species. He instructed hisofficials to be just and impartial and advised against harassmentand excessive punitive measures. He listed the good deeds hehad done both within and outside his empire and drew specialattention to how he extended his policy of Dharmavijaya (i.e. conquestthrough righteousness) beyond his borders in all directions,especially to five Hellenic kingdoms of the West.Striking a personal note, Aśoka recounted his gradual identificationwith Buddhism, gave expression to his knowledgeand appreciation of a number of Buddhist texts, and announcedhis determination to wipe out schisms within the Saṅgha. Hispilgrimages to Buddhist holy places were both mentioned andspecifically commemorated with inscribed pillars in severalplaces. His policy of religious tolerance was marked by referencesto donations to the Ājīvikas.Amidst these informative statements of Aśoka, what provedto be remarkably impressive was his heart-felt repentance forthe suffering he had caused in his attempt to conquer Kalinga.He deplored war and dedicated himself to conquest throughDharma. He exhorted his successors, too, “not to think of freshconquest by arms as worth achieving” and “to adopt the policy202
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King Asoka and BuddhismHistorical &
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Buddhism / Indian History / Asian S
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ContentsThe Contributors ..........
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3. The Gathering of the Relics ....
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owing to the inability of certain s
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1Aśoka — The Great UpāsakaRICHA
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Buddhism which Aśoka announced in
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not only urges diligence on others,
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84,000 monasteries and as many stū
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e Aśoka, a layman, who tests monks
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eousness can hardly have been Buddh
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Notes1. P.H.L. Eggermont, The Chron
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2Aśoka and Buddhism as Reflectedin
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elation to Brahmanism. There was ce
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the correct doctrine. What is of si
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is the nearest that we get in the i
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days remains unclear unless the com
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since he showed them the way and th
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the importance of trade, the first
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accordance with dhamma was preferab
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in Kalinga, is interestingly omitte
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was largely absent. The phrase that
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That the larger corpus of edicts we
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3Emperor Aśoka and Buddhism:Unreso
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to punish them for their crimes, so
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Aśokan scholars since the 1830’s
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Pandukabhaya had built them a resid
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The Mahāmātras stationed at Kauś
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The Sri Lankan Pali records, which
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problem. Nor would there be a diffi
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17 th Gets concerned over indiscipl
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to gratify ambition and enrich the
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whose central theme is the conquest
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are altogether silent on a Kalinga
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All men are my children. Just as, i
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within his dominions. The frontier
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tendents of matters relating to the
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edicts addressed to the Saṅgha; a
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evidence of Aśoka’s own lithic r
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all these sermons could be describe
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ecords relating to Dharma, appointe
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the other peoples dwelling about th
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earlier, the creation of the new ca
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five Greek kings among themselves a
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gratitude, amounting at times to sh
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e inconsistencies begin to make sen
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onistically with a brahmin exponent
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3 rd ed. rev. (New Delhi: Governmen
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far been found, the latest being th
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made, it rendered subsequent steps
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its Culture, 2nd. ed. rev. (Colombo
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The central theme in the majority o
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on a statement made by I-tsing 5 th
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confused accounts of the Sanskrit S
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the Vinaya. Some of them tended the
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In the foregoing data we have two i
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Aśoka cannot be expected to decide
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and while Aśoka who meted out such
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(2) Aliyavasāni (P. Ariyavaṃsān
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to it as sambuddhasamayaṃ, “the
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5Aśoka and the Emergence of a Sinh
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5. the Mahābodhivaṃsa (10 th or
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3. The Mission to Sri Lanka: Brief
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was planted in the Mahāmegha Park
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disbelieve these events associated
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and he saw to it that his actions s
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at Kalinga, would have paid special
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missionaries to propagate the Buddh
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To the first question the answer is
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fore Mahinda Thera’s Buddhist mis
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and the countries they visited. 47
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order. 55 Their son Sumana was a me
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it to wither away. But Aśoka manag
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Notes1. G.P. Malalasekera, ed. Va
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ical and Social Studies, Vol. I, No
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6Images of Aśoka:Some Indian and S
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legends and stories that were told
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Sanskrit avadānas each have their
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who pointed out the honey store bec
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the Fierce — an appellation that
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Page 172 and 173: Secondly, related to this are the d
Page 174 and 175: It is clear, then, that this is a t
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Page 178 and 179: eborn as a god in one of the heaven
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Page 182 and 183: monarch bested by a nāga, nor, out
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Page 186 and 187: ConclusionWith this Lokapaññatti
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Page 190 and 191: y dint of his military power. This
Page 192 and 193: 43. Strong, p. 192. Upagupta has al
Page 194 and 195: 62. T.W. Rhys Davids, E. Carpenter,
Page 196 and 197: sequently carried on in the histori
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Page 200 and 201: of Jalauka’s name in other record
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Page 204 and 205: Upagupta commanded immense venerati
Page 206 and 207: (5) His conversion to Buddhism is a
Page 208 and 209: whose noble fame travelled far and
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Page 216 and 217: of forbearance and light punishment
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Page 220 and 221: ascribed to Aśoka ideas and deeds
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Page 224 and 225: such a way that no heretical monks
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Page 232 and 233: ecame infinitely more spiritual. Bu
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Page 238 and 239: 3. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Age of th
Page 240 and 241: y V. Sirinivasa Sarma (Delhi: Banar
Page 242 and 243: Pali et Traduction, L’Ecole fran
Page 244 and 245: I have drawn closer to the Sangha a
Page 246 and 247: The chronological constraints have
Page 248 and 249: MapsAśoka’s Indian Empire235
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