CONTENTS

CHAPTER 18


ASOKA AND HIS MISSIONS

There reigned in the newly founded city of Patna (Pataliputra), a Mauryan king named Chandragupta. King Bindurasa was his son, and he had sixteen wives who bore him One hundred and One sons. Of them Asoka was the most distinguished. His mother was Subhadrangi, also known as "Dharma", Sumana or Susima, who was his eldest stepbrother, Tissa, also called Vitasoka or Vigatasoka, was his younger uterine brother.
 

Asoka's Family

Asoka had five wives, whilst he was acting as vice-regent in Avanti, he married a Sakyan princess named Devi. Asandhimitra (Chief Queen), Padmavati and Tisyarashita were his other wives.

Ho had four sons and two daughters, Mahinda and Sanghamitta were the children of Devi. Tivasa was the son of Karuvaki, and Kunala was the son of Padmavati. He had another son named Jalauka and a daughter named Carumati.

Aggimukha, the husband of Sanghamitta, and Devapala Kshatriya of Lalipura in Nepal, the husband of Carumati, were his sons-in-law. Prince Dasaratha, who succeeded him, Sampati son of Kunala, and Sumana, son of Sanghamitta, were his grandsons.
 

Asoka becomes King

In he opinion of some scholars Asoka was born in 304 B.C. to Pali Chronicle he was anoited King Two hundred and Eighteen years after Parinibbana of the Buddha, but his accession took place four years later. He reigned Thirty Seven years after his coronation. He probably ascended the throne in his 30th year, and died in hisSeventy One year.

The Pali Chronicles state that Asoka, in his ambition for supreme sovereignty, killed all his brother except his uterine brother Tissa, who later entered the Order and attained Arahantship. Some scholars do not accept this tradition as some Edicts prove that some of his brothers were still alive after his coronation.

Owing to his murderous attacks on his brothers and the indescribable suffering caused to many a family by his unjust wars, he was stigmatized Candasoka, Asoka the Wicked. But after his conversion to Buddhism, he became such as exemplary monarch that his name was changed into Dharmasoka, Asoka the Righteous. Devanampiya-Dear to the Gods, Piyadasi-Pleasant tot Behold, were some of his well-merited epithets.
 

His Conversion to Buddhism

In accordance with the custom of the royal household, King Asoka regularly bestowed alms on the Brahmin priests. But he was not pleased with their demeanor. One day, whilst he was quite casually looking through the window, he was a dignified-looking young novice, about twelve years of age, quietly walking along the street with restrained senses. He was invited to the palace and was requested to occupy a suitable seat. Seeing no spiritual superior to him, he ascended the throne. The King thought "Assuredky he will be the head of this place.' He then entertained him with due honour, and taking a low seat listened to his exposition of the Dhamma. The young novice Nigrodha delivered an instructive discourse on the following stanza of the Dhammapada: -

 "Heedfulness is the path to Deathlessness,
Heedfulness is the path to death.
The Heedful do not die,
The heedful are like unto the dead."

The word of the Buddha appealed to him, and he became a Buddhist. His conversion was the turning point of his career. Gradually he reformed himself. His outlook on life was completely changed, He modified his was and means. He preferred the Dharma Vijaya - righteous domination - to Dig Vijaya - word domination. Later in life he became such a devout and righteous monarch that H.G. Wells says: - "Amidst the ten thousand names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history, their majesties and graciousness and serenities and royal highnesses and the like, the name of Asoka shines, and shines almost alone a star. From the Volga to Japan his name is still honoured. Chine Tibet and even India, though it has left his doctrine, preserve the tradition of his greatness. More living men cherish his memory today than has ever heard the names of Constantine or Charlemagne."

Although he embraced Buddhism after meeting the novice Nigrodha, he did not give up his ambition of expending his empire. It was after the Kalinga war that he became a genuine Buddhist by abandoning all warfare. Wells says he is the only monarch on record who abandoned warfare after victory.

He thereafter became an ideal Buddhist monarch. With ceaseless energy he worked for the dissemination of the Dhamma, not only in India and other parts of Asia but also in Europe and Africa. He transformed Buddhism into a world religion. He made the important teaching of the Buddha popular by his numerous interesting rock edicts. He erected so many Viharas  (monasteries) round about Patna (Pataliputra) that the whole province came to be known as Vihara sacred places connected with the life of the Buddha, and lasting monuments were erected to mark those historic spots. Even the slaughtering of animals in the palace for household consumption was gradually lessened and stopped, and he forbade animal sacrifice. As Pandit Nehru says - "Asoka example and the spread of Buddhim resulted in vegetarianism becoming popular."

With his royal patronage Buddhism flourished in his time, but as a real Buddhism monarch he was tolerant towards all faiths. One edit says: -

" All sects deserve for some reason or other. By thus acting a man exalts his own sect and at the same time does service to the sects of other people."

Asoka was interested not only in the spiritual development of the people but also in their material development. All his subjects he treated as sons. He was so willing and ready to promote the public good that he says:- "At all times and at all places, whether I am dining or in the ladies' apartments, in my bedroom or in my closet, in my carriage or in my palace garden, the official reporters should keep me constantly informed of the people's business. Work I must for the common weal".

True to his words he acted like a father to all. In his time public gardens, medicinal herbs, hospitals for both men and animals, wells roads and educational institutions grew up all over the country. To his external credit it should be said that it was Asoka who, for the first time in the history of the world, established hospitals for both men and animals, not only in Asia but also in Europe and Africa.

To those hasty critics who decry Buddhism as the cause of the decline and downfall of India, Asoka's prosperous Buddhist reign is a cogent reply.
 

Asoka' Missioners

According to the Pali Chronicles, at the end of the Third Council which was held in the seventeenth year of Asoka' coronation, under the presidency of Arahant Monggaliputta Tissa, it was decided to send competent Arahants to nine different places to propagate the Teachings of the Buddha.

The names of the missioners and the places are as follows: -

MISSIONERS       PLACE

Majjhantika Thera       Kashmir and Gandhar
Mahadeva Thera       Mahimsaka Mandala
Rakkhita Thera       Vanavasi
Yonaka Dhammarakkhita thera     Aparantaka
Mahadhammarakkhita Thera     Maharattha
Maharakkhita Thera       Yonakaloka
Majjhima Thera       Himavantapadesa
Sonaka and Uttara Theras      Suvanabhumi
Mahinda, Itthiya, Uttiya, Sambala and Bhaddasala Theras Tambapannidipa

It is stated that each mission consisted of five Theras so that it would be possible to perform the Upasampada ceremony in remote districts.

1. Kashmir is situated in the north-west of India. Peshavar and Ravapindi in north Punjab embrace Gandhara. Majjhantika Thera arrived here and subjugated the Naga King Aravala by his psychic powers and preached the Asivisopama Sutta.

2. Mahimsaka Mandala is identified the modern Mysore in South India. According to some it is a country south of the Vindhya mountains. The Devaduta Sutta was preached here.

3. Vanavasi is North Kanara situated in South India. Even today there is a city called Vanavasi in this country. The Anamatagga Sutta Sutta ws the subject of the sermon.

4. Aparanta (Western End) is supposed to be Western India. According to the Puranas one of the five countries that existed in ancient India was Aparanta. Its capital was port Supparaka, modern Sopara. North Gujerat, Katiyavar, Kach, Sindh are included in Aparanta. The discourse that was delivered here was the Aggikkandhopama Sutta.

5. Maharattha is modern Maharashtra, which embraces mid-West India. The Maha Narada-Kassapa Jataka was delivered here.

6. Yonakarattha is the kingdom of the Greeks. It must be the Greek kingdom that existed in West India. According to some it comprises Egypt, Syria and Greece. The Kalakarama Sutta was delivered here.

7. It is stated that the Arahants Kassapagotta, Alakadeva, Mahadeva and Dundubhissara accompanied the Arahant Majjhima to the Himalaya region and preached the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.

8. Some identify Suvannabhumi with Burma. Some say it is Karna Suvarna situated in Bengal and some say it is Hiranyavaha district along the banks of the Sona river. The brahmajala Sutta was the subject of the discourses.

9. Tambapannidipa is Sri Lanka (Ceylon).
 

The Mission to Ceylon.

King Asoka's son himself accompanied by four Bhikkhus, one Samanera, and a lay Upasaka arrived in Langka to convert the Sinhalas. It was on a festival day that they reached Ceylon. It was on a festival day that they reached Ceylon. They met the reigning king Devanampiyatissa, who had gone with a party to hunt deer on a hill called Missaka (modern Mihintale). The Arahant Mahinda arrested the attention of the king by addressing him simply as "Tissa". An interesting conversation the followed. After this the Arahant Mahinda prached the Cullahantthi-padopama Sutta to the king and his followers, hearing which they all sought refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangsa and embraced this new teaching.

The Venerable Mahinda's Ceylon mission was a great success he found in Langka a fertile soil to disseminate the sublime Teachings of the Buddha. With royal patronage Buddhism was firmly established in Ceylon.

As Princess Anula, who attained the first stage of sainthood on hearing the first discourse delivered in the capital of Anuradhapura, expressed her desire to join the Order, the Venerable Mahinda dispatched a messanger to India inviting his sister Sanghamitta Their to visit Langka in order to establish the Bhikkhuni Sasana. As invited, she arrived in Ceylon with a branch of the Mahabodhi Tree at Buddha Gaya, and accompanied by a large retinue of distinguished men, who contributed largely to the material, intellectual and spiritual development of Sri Lanka.

To the eternal credit of Sinhala Buddhists it should be said that it is they who protected the sublime Teachings of the Dharmma in their pristine purity by committing them to writing on ola leaves for the first time in the history of the Buddhist world.


CHAPTER 19

1