Buddha and Asoka

R. SURYANARAYANA MURTY

The sixth century B.C. witnessed a tremendous upheavel in India stir­ring human mind to seek solution re­lating problems regarding nature of God and the Soul, the relationship between God and man and the best means of attaining salvation. The Hindu religion, based on its hierarchic caste system gave predominance to Brahmins, the priestly class, while the costly and cumbersome ritual prac­tisedby them resulting very often in killing innocent animals offered as sacrifice to propitiate Aryan gods proved repugnant to many who began searching for a more simple approach for problems of salvation. Many schools of philosophy emerged, challenging the position held by the old order. TheUpanishad composed by saints and sages between 800 to 500 B.C. made an attempt to answer some of the questions relating to Atman, the, silent and formless depth of the Soul, the Brahman or the Universal Divine Spirit, the most important single-thing, absolute, infinite, impersonal and in­describable, and Moksha or nirvana or Salvation, the perfectbliss or satisfaction giving relief to the Soul from the burden of the cycle of births and deaths. The upanishadic philosophy became the basic rock of the Hindu religious thought ever since it proved too hard to grasp its intricate reasoning for the average person, conse­quently the quest for a religion less mystical and more near the door step of he common man continued. Jainism and Buddhism emerged largely to fulfil this need.

Siddhartha or Gautama as Bud­dha was named originally, was born in the Kshatriya Sakya clan in about 567 B.C. and was the son of Suddhodhana, ruler of Kapilavastu in the present Nepalese Terai. His mother Mayadevi died within a week after his birth. Though trained as a prince and learned to ride and hunt, a great discontent fell upon him from his younger days and his sensitive mind became aware of the deep suffering, if humanity was found for one reason or another with no solution to and it. He was married to a beautiful princess by mind did not stop thinking of humanity’s suffering. When news was brought that a son was born to him, and there was joy and festivity all over,he felt it was another tie binding him.

Soon he decided to leave the palace and its pleasures and find a solution to the manifold problems tor­menting human mind, he took a last look at the child and the mother at dead of night when they were fast asleep. Riding his horse Kanthaka, accompanied by his groom Channa on foot he rode several miles till he was out of Sakya domain. At day break, halting by the side of a river, he cut off his flowing locks with his sword and sent Channa on foot he rode several miles till he was out of Sakya domain. At day break, halting by the side of a river, he cut off his flowing looks with his sword and sent Channa along· with his horse and ornaments. Soon he exchanged his royal robes with the rags worn by a beggar, he was twenty nine years at this time. Now he was free to wander and pursue and realise the goal of his mission. This was known as the Great Renunciation.

First Gautama went to place near Vindhya mountains where in an hermitage he studied all the books relating to metaphysics of his age. Not satisfied with the solutions propounded there in, he started mortify­ing his body by extreme penance, fol­lowing the traditional thinking to get salvation, till he became so lean that he was unable even to stand. Realising the futility of such mystical exercises; he gratefully accepted a bowl of sweet­ened rice offered by a peasant girl but it was thought that he acted contrary to the then prevailing ideas regarding ­the search for salvation, five hermit friends deserted him. Alone he started wandering till he reached Gaya where he seated himself under a pipal tree and went into deep meditation for seven days, he was tormented by Mara who tempted him with a bevy of beautiful maidens. But he remained undis­turbed and his spirit triumphed. Soon he had a vision where he found an answer to every question and every doubt tormenting his mind. Thus he became the Buddha or the Enlight­ened and the tree under which he meditated came to be called the Bodhi Tree.

Buddha was thirty five years at one time he had Enlightenment. Soon he went to benaras where his hermit friends rejoined him as his disciples. There in the king’s Deer Park in Sar­nath. Buddha gave his first sermon known as Dharrnachakra pravartana or rotating the wheel of Dharma. There he propounded his four Nobel Truths and the Eight-fold path as a means of salvation or attaining Nirvana. Buddha considered all desires based on greed and worldly affairs as sources of trouble leading to sorrow. What is required is elimination or destruction of desire to achieve which the noble Eight-fold path is to be adopted. This patti is also called Middle Path as it is midway between extreme asceticism and extreme luxury or self-indulgence.

The eight virtues are right view right resolution, right speech, right action, right means of livelihood, right exertion, right remembrance and right meditation. The practice of these will help in the elimination or destruction of self, freeing man from the cycle of Births and deaths and enabling him to reach the goal of Nirvana - Buddha insisted on his disciples following the time-honoured prescriptions namely not to kill, steal or commit adultery, not to lie, invent evil reports about other people, not to indulge in fault-finding or using profane language, to abstain from covetousness and hatred and to avoid ignorance. He laid em­phasis on values of truthfulness, rev­erence towards superiors or elders and respect for animal life.

While ordinary persons were al­lowed to follow the path of holiness as lay upasakas, Buddha instituted the Sangha or the order of ordained monks known as Bhikshus. The members of the Sangha should not own any earthly possessions, should lead a secluded life, should shave their heads, put on ochre robes, live by begging or collecting alms and spend time propagating the Buddhist Dharma at all times excepting in the rainy season. The Sangha in due course became a powerful instrument for the spread of Buddhism over large parts of Asia.

Many ruling princes of the day honoured buddha by providing facili­ties for his stay during his march from place to place in their orchards or gardens. Buddha was credited with converting to Buddhism Amrapalla, courtesan of Vaishali, and Angulimala, a dreaded highway robber who lived in a forest on the outskirts of Sravasti. To the dismay of everybody, he was able to tame an intoxicated tusker set against him in Vaishali by his cousin Devadatta who was jealous of his popularity, of course, later repented and sought his pardon. In kapilavastu it is said that all the people of the place/came forward to embrace the new religion.

When his father Suddhodhana protested that Buddha was disgracing the family by begging for alms and walking in the streets while he should go on palanquin, he replied that he belonged to a different lineage, that of Buddhas and that begging for alms was traditionally practised by all saints. In this contest he gave a ser­mon where in occur the following two verses:

(1) Be not heedless in standing (at doors) for alms. Observe scrupulously this practice (of seeking alms) he who observes this practice lives happily in this world and in the next.

(2) Observe this practice scrupu­lously. Do not observe it nonchalantly.

To his son Rahula he gave a remarkable admonition emphasizing the necessity to speak the exact truth. Buddha’s radiant personality shining like polished gold, in deep serenity, with a begging bowl in hand, but every inch a prince, preaching to the mosses going from village to village must have struck his contemporaries as superhu­man and herboon became a legend in his own time with thousands becom­ing his disciples and adopting the new religion.

After four decades of incessant preaching in his eightieth year in about 48% B.C. while halting at Kusi­nagara, not far from kapilavastu on a full moon night after taking food offered to him, he developed pain in the stomach. He asked his favourite dis­ciple Ananda and others who were in deep grief to put them to rest in a garden in between two trees Buddha gave his last message thus: “Every­thing of this / is subject to decay and change. Death is a natural part of life, it is nothing to fear. Grieve not. When I am gone let my teachings/be your guide” Then he closed his eyes and attained Parnirvana.

Buddha rejected the infallibility of the Vedas, condemned sacrifices as misleading and meaningless and chal­lenged the superiority of Brahmin caste. Buddhism did not prescribe any elaborate ritual but laid emphasis on moral principles like unity in thinking, speaking and acting. Buddhism no doubt borrowed from Hinduism the doctrines of Karma “and transmigration of the soul popularised by Upanishads but with some modifications. Buddhist conception of the soul is however dif­ferent as it is not an entity as in Hinduism but a flux of desires and experiences.

There is also great difference between the Hindu and Buddhist conceptions of Moksha or Nirvana, unlike in Hinduism where every thing in life is preordained. Buddha laid emphasis on individual effort and said “One is one’s own saviour and master without reference to any outside power “That way Buddhism is considered as the most rational of all religions while at the same time substituting emo­tion and sympathy for ceremonial and dogma’ (Keene)

Asoka the Great (273 B.C. to 232 B.C.)

H.G. Wells in his world History describes Asoka’s reign as the bright­est interlude in the troubled history of Mankind, he adds “Amidst the tens of thousands of monarchs that crowd the columns of History, the name of Asoka shines almost alone like a star”. Asoka’s greatness consists in the fact that he eschewed war or conquest as a means of state policy and stated that true conquest consists in the conquest of men’s hearts and in seeing that the virtues enshrined in the law of Piety or Duty are practised by all so that mankind would enjoy peace of mind, joy and self-control. With this end in view he initiated a policy of propagat­ing Dharma based on some of the lofti­est moral principles while trying to adhere to the teachings of Buddha. Prof. Romila Thapar in her book “Asoka and the decline of the Mauryas” opines that Asoka made some innovations while propagating the Dhmma. She writes: “Asoka’s great­ness lay in the fact that he was equipped both by his own endeavour and by circumstances to understand the culture to which he belonged and its then rapidly changing requirements this characteristic was coupled with an extraordinary degree of idealism. Both these gave him the courage which he needed to experiment with the contemporary situation and strike out towards an uncommon solution”.

As the empire was large and the people heterogeneous and largely non-Buddhist, the emperor, himself being endowed with an innovative mind, evolved a code of ethical principles for propagation which was universal in its appeal and which would receive the widest possible acceptance.

Asoka inherited one of the largest empires then known to the ancient world extending from the Hindukush mountains in the north including modern Afghanistan and Beluchistan and practically the whole of the Indian sub-continent barring the country south of the Mysore plateau. He conquered Kalinga in the ninth year of his reign after fighting a bloody war which rounded off the empire on the eastern side. But the death toll on the battlefield was heavy while the suffering inflicted on the civilian population was enormous. The emperor’s mind was filled with remorse and henceforth he decided not to fight wars and in­flict pain on others but devote all his time for propagating the Dharma. The Kalinga war became a turning point not only in the life of Asoka but also in the history of mankind.

Asoka issued a series of inscriptions or edicts which were inscribed on the surface of rock in different parts of the country and also on pillars spe­cially erected for the purpose and in­stalled in suitable accessible to the people places / in different parts ofthe country wherein he recorded the moral prescriptions to be followed by them. These edicts were so widely distributed they even help us to know the extent of the empire. The Asokan edicts en­join on all that father and mother must be obeyed, truth must be spo­ken, teacher must be revered by the pupil, compassion should be shown to an living creatures kind / treatment should be meted out to slaves and hired servants / should be given to the poor and needy.

He expressed faith in ahimsa or non-injury to animals and abjured royal hunt and slaughter of animals for food in the royal kitchen, his in­junction prohibiting slaughter / or mutilation of animals during festivals and sacrifices might have offended the sentiment of brahmanical Hindus but there was no doubt that in the long run this injunction and its enforce­ment created distaste for such sacri­fices and consuming such food. Asoka Dharma also enjoined providing cer­tain material services to the people like providing rest houses. digging of wells and growing trees / on the roadsides that give shade and fruit forthe bene­fit of travellers. A more humanistic service was providing hospitals that help healing diseases of both man and beast.

Asoka in one of his edicts / while stating that the Law of Duty? “And he answers the same this way: “In these things, to with little impiety, many good deeds, compassion, liberality, truthfulness and purity.” The edicts were autobiographical and addressed directly to the people revealing the emperor’s thinking on the moral issues of the day over a period of time. The emperor mostly used his honorof­ies Devanam - priya and priyadarsin while addressing himself in the in­scriptions and rarely used his origina1 name, he appointed a new set of officers, called Dharmamahamatras whom he endowed with large powers and saw to it that the people followed the Law of Piety.

Asoka however had no intention of converting people to any new creed by force. On the other hand be enjoined on the people to show respect to Brahmanas, Sramanas and Hirgran­thas (Jain monks). Asoka takes credit as the earliest and the greatest exponent of the concept of religious tolerance. In his characteristic way in one / his edicts he gave / classic expression to this doctrine thus: “A man must not do reverence to his own sect or disparage that of another man without reason. Depreciation should be for specific reasons only because the sects of other people also deserve reverence for one reason or another. By thus acting, a man exalts his own sect and at the same time does service to the sects of other people. By acting con­trariwise, a man burts his own sect and does disservice to other sects.

“Asoka can be considered as one far in advance of his age and as one / who laid foundation to the modern secular state based on equality and equal respect for all religions.

Asoka addressed the people in his inscriptions as his children and said in an edict thus: “Just as I desire for all my children that they should obtain happiness both in this world and in the next so do i desire for all men.” He had a high conception of his duties as a king, and stated that he would make himself available to receive complaints from his subjects at all times and in all places, he in­structed his reporters not to hesitate to bring any complaint to his notice even if he were to be in private or ladies’ apartments. Otherwise he said, “I will never have full satisfaction in my efforts and dispatch of business.” Only by such exertions he hoped to discharge his debt to animate beings and make them feel happy not only in this world but in heaven as well. Pecu­liarly Asoka was holding out heaven as a goal to be aspired by the people and not Nirvana.

Asoka was a brahmanical Hindu according to Dr. V.A. Smith prior to his conversion to Buddhism as a lay upasaka, under the influence of a Buddhist monk by nake Upagupta of Mathura, he went on a pilgrimage to all the sacred places associated with the life of Buddha like Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Kusinagara and others. In one of his edicts he ex­pressed his faith and respect for the Buddha, the Dharma or the Sacred law and the Sangha or the Buddhist Church and asserted: “Whatever has been said by the venerable Buddha has been well said.

“He adopted the Hinayana or the original form of Buddhism and allowed only symbolic representation of the Buddha on his edicts or on the stupas or viharas built by him, and not in the human form characteristic of Mahayana form of Buddhism of a later date, in fact he opposed and condemned schism and saw to it that the third Buddhist Council which met at Pataliputra under his auspices to codify the Buddhist canon also re­solved condemning schematic sects.

His greatest service to Buddhism was sending out missionaries to propagate Buddhism among the people in the independent kingdoms in the southern part of India, in Ceylon, Burma and in the Greek kingdoms of west Asia, Africa and Europe. The mission sent Ceylon was needed by Asoka’s brother and sister, Mahendra and Sanghamitra (according to Ceylo­nese tradition they were son and daughter of Asoka) which proved highly successful resulting in the con­version of the island people to Buddhism and Anuradhapura in Ceylon becoming a Buddhist Home with vast hill-like Dagobas. The missions of Asoka were some of the greatest civiliz­ing forces of the day bringing whole­some change among people who were till then mostly animistic and primi­tive.

The history of Indian Art can also be said to begin with Asokan age. The carvings in stone on the various rocks, pillars and the Capitals tower­ing on them marked a high degree of craftsmanship. Writing on the Sarnath Capital with its lions, bas reliefs, of animals and showing the Dharma Chakra or the Wheel. Sri John Mar­shal states: “They represent the finest Art India has yet produced unsur­passed I venture to think by anything of their kind in the ancient world! The monolithic columns carved in finest sandstone are a marvel in technical skill and give the impression of being cast in metal. The age must have produced some excellent literature as Indian literary tradition was a long and continuous one and the Mauryan Court was most magnificent attracting poets of the day though we have no authentic evidence regarding the same.

Pundit Nehru acclaims Buddha as the greatest son of India, in his book Glimpses of World’s History. Though Buddhism lost its hold on the people in he land of its birth it won thousands of votaries in the lands to the east and north-east of Asia where it is the predominant religion even today whose people pay their homage to India as the sacred land of the Buddha. Asoka is credited with play­ing the lead role in the transformation of Buddhism as a world religion while at the same time his innovative mind could hammer out a new concept of Dharma so broad in scope that no cultural group could raise any objec­tion to it.