Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c40.22

v2.c40.22

(viii) Aśoka's attitude towards Buddhism: Aśoka as the emperor showed toleration to all religions, although he had a personal fancy for Buddhism, and very probably he became a Buddhist upāsaka. In R.E. VIII issued in the 10th year of his reign, Aśoka says that he paid a visit to the Sambodhi, by which he probably meant Gayā, the place where Buddha attained Sambodhi. In the 14th year of his reign he enlarged the stūpa of Kanakamuni, and in the 20th year he worshipped the stūpa of Kanakamuni as also the birthplace of Buddha (Vide Nigliva Inscr. and Minor Pillar Edict). In the Bhabru edict, he expressed his admiration for Buddha's teachings and recommended certain texts for special study of the monks while in the Sarnath and Sanchi inscriptions, he revealed his solicitude for the well-being and concord of the Saṅgha. In the Allahabad Pillar inscription he directed his officers to avert any schism in the church. Lastly, towards the end of his reign when 256 years had elapsed after the death of Buddha, he admitted that out of the two and a half years that he formally became an Upāsaka, he observed the śīlas (i.e., eight śīlas) for only one and a half-year,—the period he lived in a monastery with the monks. There is nothing in the inscriptions to show that Aśoka became an ordained monk nor is there any reference in the Buddhist traditions to such a possibility. He remained a lay-devotee, and very likely he resided in a monastery as such for a certain period of time.