King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

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Pali et Traduction, L’Ecole française d’êxtreme orient, Vol.CXXVIII, Paris, 1989.39. These digressions detracted the value of these accounts inthe eyes of the early scholars who expressed their impatienceas if the authors were obliged to be unbiased andobjective historians. It was hardly conceded that theirgoal was not so much to record history as to propagatethe central teachings of their religion. The law of karmafound a convenient point of entry in every story wherethe reason for a good or bad experience could be tracedto wholesome or unwholesome action in the previousbirth. Once these compulsive digressions are recognizedfor their true purpose, the analysis of these accounts forthe historical kernel becomes a very useful exercise.40. See note 37. This ancient commentary had been veryclosely followed in the Dīpavaṃsa, Mahāvaṃsa andSamantapāsādikā. The author of the Mahāvaṃsa Ṭīkā, writtencirca 1000 A.C., appears to have had access to it andhence its disappearance has to be dated subsequent tothis period. For a discussion on the Sinhala Commentaryand its historicity, see Geiger, pp. 44 ff.41. At first these were written in Sinhala. Later translatedinto Pali or modifed following the Sinhala models,Mahābodhivaṃsa, Dāṭhāvaṃsa and Thūpavaṃsa became theforerunners of a branch of historical literature which wascontinued in Burma with works like Sāsanavaṃsa andGandhavaṃsa, and in Thailand with those like Jinakālamālī.See Winternitz, II, pp. 210 ff.42. For example, Jinakālamālī, an historical work in Pali, written229
y Ratanapala of Thailand in 1517, gives a one pageaccount of Aśoka which summarizes accurately the maininformation contained in the Sri Lankan sources. Neitherdistance nor time has interfered with the consistency ofthe details.43. Vinaya Piṭakaṃ, Vol. I (Mahāvagga), edited by H. Oldenberg(London: PTS, 1969), p. 1ii.44. Discussed in my article, “Emperor Aśoka and Buddhism:Some Unresolved Discrepancies in Buddhist Traditionand Aśokan Inscriptions.” See, in particular, note 11,above pp. 62 – 63.45. Thapar, p. 2.46. Ibid., p. 42. This level of critical objectivity is not seen inRomila Thapar’s belaboured argument that Jalauka ofRājatarangiṇī was the same as Kuṇāla. See p. 189.47. As stated in note 42 the original tradition first recordedin Sri Lankan Pali sources is found without any changein all acounts of the Third Council and of the establishmentof Buddhism in Sri Lanka, found in chronicles ofthe Theravāda countries. The discovery of manuscriptsof an extended version of the Mahāvaṃsa in Khmer scriptin Paris and Colombo is indicative of the prevalence ofSri Lankan chronicles in Southeast Asia. See E. Hardy,“Kambodian Mahāvaṃsa,” JRAS (1902), p. 171: JPTS(1902 – 1903), pp. 61 ff.48. Mhv., V, 62 – 72. Cf. MRE I: “I have been a Buddhist laymanfor more than two and a half years but for a year Idid not make much progress. Now for more than a year230
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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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the end of Aśoka’s life, it is o
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somewhat regained consciousness, he
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elics of the Buddha for redistribut
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the glory of Sri Lanka and on its p
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Secondly, related to this are the d
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It is clear, then, that this is a t
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how in the Aśokāvadāna these wer
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eborn as a god in one of the heaven
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the night, the guardian gods came t
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monarch bested by a nāga, nor, out
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as Japan were inspired to emulate i
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ConclusionWith this Lokapaññatti
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6. A.L. Basham, “The Rise of Budd
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y dint of his military power. This
Page 192 and 193: 43. Strong, p. 192. Upagupta has al
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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 212 and 213: missionary role claimed by Aśoka i
Page 214 and 215: Aśoka and, by implication, these m
Page 216 and 217: of forbearance and light punishment
Page 218 and 219: from the pens of many an intellectu
Page 220 and 221: ascribed to Aśoka ideas and deeds
Page 222 and 223: the only scholar of the West to dis
Page 224 and 225: such a way that no heretical monks
Page 226 and 227: (2) that he used Buddhism — or ra
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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 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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