Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t3: Asoka Tree

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t3

Language
English

Asoka Tree

v1.c5.s2.t3.1

Asoka is a kind of tree belonging to the Caesalpiniaceae family. Its scientific name is *Saraca Asoca*, originally grown in India, Indo-China and the southwestern region of China. It is one of the Buddhist holy trees. ‘无忧’ (*wu you*) is the name of the Asoka in Chinese and its transliteration is *a shu jia* written with different characters (‘阿输迦’, ‘阿输柯’, ‘阿叔迦’ , ‘阿菽迦’, etc). *Juan* 09 of Baochang’s work, the *Sanskrit-Chinese Lexicon*, says that A shu jia shu 阿菽迦树 (Asoka tree) must be pronounced as A shu jia 阿输迦, and must be translated as *wu you* 无忧 (meaning, one without sorrow). *Juan* 10 of the same work has Asoka 阿输迦 referred to as *wu you hua shu* 无忧华树 (Asoka flower tree). *Juan* 26 of Huilin’s *Sound and Meaning of All Sutras* refers to A shu jia shu 阿叔迦树 (Asoka tree) as *wu you shu*无忧树. *Juan* 03 in *Collection of Terms in Translation* has A shu jia阿输迦 pronounced as ‘A shu ke’ 阿输柯 (Asoka). *The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom* also translates it as *wu you hua shu* 无忧华树.

v1.c5.s2.t3.2

The *Sutra on Cause and Effect* wrote that Queen Maya went to Lumbini Garden on February 8, saw an Asoka flower and raised her right hand to pick it but her baby (the prince Siddhartha, the future Gautama Buddha) was born from her right flank. Many sutras recorded that Queen Maya, the mother of the Buddha Sakyamuni, who had returned to her family to give birth according to the convention of the time, passed Lumbini Garden and gave birth to Prince Siddhartha under the Asoka tree. *Juan* 1 of the *Sutra on Causes and Effects of the Past and Present*, translated by the Indian Tripitaka Gunabhadra in the Song Dynasty, described the tree specifically,

v1.c5.s2.t3.3

*An Aśoka tree pruned into the shape of an umbrella*

v1.c5.s2.t3.4

“The Queen saw a huge tree named Asoka in the garden, its flowers were fragrant and fresh and its leaves were very luxuriant.” *Juan* 6 of the *Travelling Notes on the Western Regions in the Great Tang Dynasty* recorded that Xuanzang visited Lumbini and saw that the Asoka tree under which the Buddha was born had withered away. Because the Asoka tree was related to the birth of the Buddha, it became one of the Buddhist holy trees and all ancient Indian stone sculptures or frescoes describing the birth of the Buddha painted the image of the tree. The artistic way of depicting the Asoka tree was introduced to China from India. In the frescoes at Qizil and Dunhuang which depict the birth of the Buddha, the image of the tree appears in many places.

v1.c5.s2.t3.5

Duan Chengshi’s *Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang* (*juan* 3) claimed that the “flowers of the Asoka bloom once women touch them.” Some species of the Asoka were planted in South China. Moving Indian Buddhist stories which feature the Asoka tree are popular in China.

v1.c5.s2.t3.6

(*Chen Ming*)

Linked texts (1)