His life can be divided into two parts. The first half of his life was the era of "Black Ashoka", which basically unified India by force. About 26 BC1year, 15000 people were captured, 1000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Then, except Mysore, it unified the whole South Asian subcontinent and a part of Afghanistan today. It is said that King Ashoka deeply repented because he witnessed a large number of massacres when he conquered Guo Jia, Ling Jie. After many long talks with you botan, a Buddhist monk, he was finally inspired and determined to convert to Buddhism, so he stopped expanding by force. The second half of his life was the "Ashoka" era, and he worked hard to promote Buddhism throughout the country and became the "great protector" of Buddhism. Eventually contributed to the prosperity of this world religion.
During Ashoka's reign, there were 1000 monks gathered in Jiyuan Temple, the capital of Fahrenheit, with Muyu Lianzi Emperor Xu as the first one, who re-compiled Buddhist classics and compiled them on objects, which was a famous "Fahrenheit City Collection" in the history of Buddhist culture.
Ashoka built Buddhist buildings all over the country. It is said that a total of 84,000 Buddhist pagodas have been built and settled in the "Eight Lucky Six Wonders Resort", with 19 in the eastern part of Sinian (China).
King Ashoka also sent Buddhist missions, including princes, princesses and ministers, to the border areas and neighboring countries to spread Buddhism. Sri Lanka, Myanmar and even Syria, Egypt and Greece have their footprints. This is the beginning of Buddhism going out of India and heading for the world religion.
Asoka designated Buddhism as the state religion, and carved his imperial edicts and the spirit of "Dharma" on cliff walls and stone pillars, which became the famous Ashoka Cliff Method and Ashoka Stone Column Method. These "orthodox teachings" embody the basic spirit of Buddhism. The thirteenth inscription on the rock surface established by Ashoka records: "In the ninth year of his accession to the throne, Ashoka practiced karma ... He not only resisted karma, but also defended the Dharma, returned to the Dharma and spread the teachings of the Dharma. These cultural relics still stand there today and become unparalleled treasures in the history of Buddhism in India and the world.
Buddhism in Sri Lanka actually started from the time of Ashoka, and was later inherited by the Ming King and became their national religion.
After 65,438+00 years of extensive research in the whole country, the shaman of Ximing Temple in the Tang Dynasty in China compiled a 100 volume of Fayuan Zhu Lin, which listed the name, construction time and erection place of the 19 tower built by Ashoka in China to worship the Sakyamuni relic. Although there were "hundreds of Buddhist temples" in China at that time, Buddhism believed that only 19 was built by Ashoka, and there were relics in the underground palace. Including the "Seven Treasures Asoka Pagoda" unearthed from the underground palace of Chang Gan Temple in Nanjing Dahongzhi Site, and the stupa of Asoka Temple in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.