King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

Here again, the Sri Lankan Pali sources provide a clue.They speak of an exchange of missions with Sri Lanka priorto that of Mahinda. This mission of lay envoys is described inthe Mahāvaṃsa as follows:The lord of men (i.e. Aśoka) sent envoys with the gift of the truedoctrine, saying: “I have taken refuge in the Buddha, his doctrineand his Order, I have declared myself a lay disciple in the religionof the Sakya son; seek then even thou (i.e. DevānampiyaTissa), O best of men, converting thy mind with believing heart,refuge in these best of gems.” 48The Chronicles also give a list of the gifts which Aśoka sentto the Sri Lankan king with this message; and this includes“yellow and emblic myrobalans and precious ambrosial healingherbs.” 49 It is quite possible that it is this type of missionthat Aśoka described in RE II with its special emphasis on theexportation and planting of medicinal plants in the countriesmentioned in it. Sri Lanka is one of these countries. It is equallypossible that RE XIII refers to similar envoys of Dharma, sentby Aśoka, on his own initiative, to spread the code of moralprinciples as he had conceived. If so, they could have precededthe missionary efforts which Moggaliputta Tissa put into operationafter the Third Council. In this context, an analysis of theSri Lankan Pali sources by Y. Dhammavisuddhi on Mahinda’smission to Sri Lanka shows that it was prearranged as regardsboth timing and venue by means of exchange of envoys. 50Viewed from such a standpoint, there is no question ofcomparative accuracy as regards the records of the Emperorand those of the Saṅgha. They in all probability speak of twodifferent kinds of missions. Aśoka has claimed no credit (asfar as the hitherto known lithic sources are concerned) for themissions fielded by Moggaliputta Tissa. But the expressions of78