The History of Buddhist Thought c20.7

c20.7

What Asoka meant by religion or morality (dhamma) doubtless varied in the course of his life. We find that he bitterly regretted the slaughter involved in his conquest of the Kalingas, and he appears to have undergone a conversion. He speaks of having for more than two years not exerted himself well as a lay disciple, but that afterwards he exerted himself greatly. He undertook religious tours, and he mentions his going to the Bodhi tree (*sambodhi*).¹ He teaches respect to parents and teachers and forbids the slaying of living creatures. There is no doubt that he was a Buddhist, but other sects were honoured by him, so that the dhamma which he fostered must have been chiefly the rules of morality. It has even been held that in his time Buddhism consisted of nothing but moral rules, and that the edicts show us an earlier stage of Buddhism, “une doctrine toute morale,” as Senart says. This theory implies not only that Buddhism was such in its first beginnings, but also that it was nothing more than that a century or two later. So that we are asked to suppose that not merely the doctrine of the Path was an invention of monks, but that it had not even been invented in the time of Asoka. One thing supposed to show this is that his edicts do not mention Nirvāṇa. He speaks of wishing to make all living beings happy in this world in order that in the other world they may attain heaven (R.E., vi), and again says that the practice of dhamma produces endless merit in the world beyond (R.E., ix). But this is merely ordinary teaching. To preach Nirvāṇa as a reward to people living in the world would be an absurdity. To preach heaven as a reward for good deeds is Buddha’s own doctrine. As Dr. Bhandarkar says, if it is once grasped that Asoka was himself a lay follower of Buddhism and preached to the householders, and that his teaching was based on what that religion ordained for its laity, there is nothing surprising in the fact that he makes no mention of Nirvāṇa or the Eightfold Way in his edicts, but on the contrary speaks of heaven, and holds it up as the reward of dhamma in the next life.²