King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

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evidence of Aśoka’s own lithic records is that the Dharma hetaught was none other than the code of ethics of Buddhism asthe Buddha himself preached it in such suttas as Sigālovāda,Dhammika, Vyagghapajja, Parābhava, etc., each of which isas devoid of references to characteristic Buddhist doctrines asAśoka’s inscriptions are. So when, as a minimum message, theRajjukas and Prādeśikas were ordered to convey the followingto his subjects, Aśoka was presenting the quintessence of practicalBuddhism:Meritorious is obedience to mother and father. Meritorious isliberality to friends, acquaintances and relatives and to theBrāhmaṇas and Śramaṇas. Meritorious is abstention fromthe slaughter of living beings. Meritorious is to spend littleand store little (RE III).One should obey one’s mother and father and likewise one’selders. One should be steadfast in one’s kindness towards livingbeings. One should speak the truth. In this way, one should propoundthese attributes of Dharma. In the same way, the pupilshould honour his teacher and this practice should be establishedby one in the proper manner among one’s relations. Thisis an ancient rule and the principle is long standing. One shouldact in this way (MRE II). 36Thus saith King Priyadarśī, Beloved of the Gods:A person has an eye on his good deed only and says to himself:“This good deed have I done.” Not in the least does henotice his sin (pāpa), saying to himself: “This sinful act have Iperpetrated,” or “This indeed is what is called sin.” But this iscertainly difficult to scrutinize. Nevertheless, one should verilylook into the matter thus: “These passions surely lead to sin,such as violence, cruelty, anger, vanity and jealousy. Let me notruin myself by reason of these very passions.” One should seriouslyreflect on the following: “This one is for my good onlyin this world and the other one is for my good also in the nextworld” (PE III).67
These teachings, in fact, are the very ones which are elaboratedin the seven Buddhist texts he recommended in the Bairat(Bhābru) Edict.Once again the Sri Lankan Pali sources provide furtherevidence on the kind of Buddhist teachings Aśoka must haveunderscored. The first sermon which each of the teams of Buddhistmissionaries preached is recorded as follows:Majjhantika in Kashmir and Gandhara: Āsivisūpama Sutta— either Āsīvisa Sutta of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, which is an allegoryon evil forces a person has to be conscious of, or ĀsīvisaSutta of the Anguttara Nikāya, on anger.Rakkhita in Vanavāsa: Anamatagga Saṃyutta, which concentrateson the evils of ignorance and craving.Dharmarakkhita, the Greek, in Aparanta: AggikkhandhopamaSutta (also preached by Mahinda in Sri Lanka), whichemphasizes moral conduct.Mahādhammarakkhita in Mahārāshtra: MahānāradakassapaJātaka, which upholds goodness, generosity and charity asopposed to hedonistic pleasures.Mahārakkhita in the Greek country: Kālakārāma Sutta, onthe Buddha’s comprehension of the world without being subjectto it.Majjhima in Himālaya: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, thefirst sermon outlining the Four Noble Truths and the NobleEightfold Path.Uttara in Suvaṇṇabhūmi: Brahmajālā Sutta, which analysesdifferent philosophical speculations and underscores moralconduct.Mahinda in Sri Lanka: Cūlahatthipadopama Sutta, whichstresses the life of a real devotee.With the exception of the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta,68
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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
Page 30 and 31: elation to Brahmanism. There was ce
Page 32 and 33: the correct doctrine. What is of si
Page 34 and 35: is the nearest that we get in the i
Page 36 and 37: days remains unclear unless the com
Page 38 and 39: since he showed them the way and th
Page 40 and 41: the importance of trade, the first
Page 42 and 43: accordance with dhamma was preferab
Page 44 and 45: in Kalinga, is interestingly omitte
Page 46 and 47: was largely absent. The phrase that
Page 48 and 49: That the larger corpus of edicts we
Page 50 and 51: 3Emperor Aśoka and Buddhism:Unreso
Page 52 and 53: to punish them for their crimes, so
Page 54 and 55: Aśokan scholars since the 1830’s
Page 56 and 57: Pandukabhaya had built them a resid
Page 58 and 59: The Mahāmātras stationed at Kauś
Page 60 and 61: The Sri Lankan Pali records, which
Page 62 and 63: problem. Nor would there be a diffi
Page 64 and 65: 17 th Gets concerned over indiscipl
Page 66 and 67: to gratify ambition and enrich the
Page 68 and 69: whose central theme is the conquest
Page 70 and 71: are altogether silent on a Kalinga
Page 72 and 73: All men are my children. Just as, i
Page 74 and 75: within his dominions. The frontier
Page 76 and 77: tendents of matters relating to the
Page 78 and 79: edicts addressed to the Saṅgha; a
Page 82 and 83: all these sermons could be describe
Page 84 and 85: ecords relating to Dharma, appointe
Page 86 and 87: the other peoples dwelling about th
Page 88 and 89: earlier, the creation of the new ca
Page 90 and 91: five Greek kings among themselves a
Page 92 and 93: gratitude, amounting at times to sh
Page 94 and 95: e inconsistencies begin to make sen
Page 96 and 97: onistically with a brahmin exponent
Page 98 and 99: 3 rd ed. rev. (New Delhi: Governmen
Page 100 and 101: far been found, the latest being th
Page 102 and 103: made, it rendered subsequent steps
Page 104 and 105: its Culture, 2nd. ed. rev. (Colombo
Page 106 and 107: The central theme in the majority o
Page 108 and 109: on a statement made by I-tsing 5 th
Page 110 and 111: confused accounts of the Sanskrit S
Page 112 and 113: the Vinaya. Some of them tended the
Page 114 and 115: In the foregoing data we have two i
Page 116 and 117: Aśoka cannot be expected to decide
Page 118 and 119: and while Aśoka who meted out such
Page 120 and 121: (2) Aliyavasāni (P. Ariyavaṃsān
Page 122 and 123: to it as sambuddhasamayaṃ, “the
Page 124 and 125: 5Aśoka and the Emergence of a Sinh
Page 126 and 127: 5. the Mahābodhivaṃsa (10 th or
Page 128 and 129: 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
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43. Strong, p. 192. Upagupta has al
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62. T.W. Rhys Davids, E. Carpenter,
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sequently carried on in the histori
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Aśoka remained largely a name in t
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of Jalauka’s name in other record
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the Sanskrit original is no longer
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Upagupta commanded immense venerati
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(5) His conversion to Buddhism is a
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whose noble fame travelled far and
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surrounded by a coating of inventio
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missionary role claimed by Aśoka i
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Aśoka and, by implication, these m
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of forbearance and light punishment
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from the pens of many an intellectu
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ascribed to Aśoka ideas and deeds
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the only scholar of the West to dis
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such a way that no heretical monks
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(2) that he used Buddhism — or ra
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in this by the fact that these sect
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of the land’s greatest moments in
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ecame infinitely more spiritual. Bu
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frontier areas as a reaction agains
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Present-day India has been so impre
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3. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Age of th
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y V. Sirinivasa Sarma (Delhi: Banar
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Pali et Traduction, L’Ecole fran
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I have drawn closer to the Sangha a
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The chronological constraints have
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MapsAśoka’s Indian Empire235
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King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

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