History Asoka

Q - Who was Asoka and why was he important?

A - Asoka was a great emperor of India (268-231 BC). He was very important in spreading the
idea of Buddhism through South-east Asia.

Q - Why did Asoka become Buddhist? // What state did Asoka conquer? // Why was Asoka
unhappy and what did he do?

A - Asoka's armies conquered the state of Kalinga in eastern India. When Asoka saw how many
people had been killed, he was very unhappy. He said that he would never have war again in his
empire, and he became a Buddhist.

Q - What are the things Asoka did after becoming Buddhist?

A - All over his great empire Asoka put up stone pillars carved with the teachings of Buddha and
tried to carry out Buddha's teaching that a ruler must be good to all his people.

1 - He made his servants plant trees along the hot dusty roads to shade people from the sun.

2 - He made them dig wells so that travellers could have water.

3 - He built small houses by the roads so that travellers could shelter at night.

4 - He set up hospitals, and made the monks plant gardens full of herbs. These were used to
cure people and animals when they were ill.

Q - What buildings were made and what was its significance?

A - Many people became monks or nuns and large monasteries were built. Many stupas or
shrines were also built. These were buildings of solid stone built over a holy relic of Buddha or a
place visited by Buddha during his life.

Q - How did the people worship?

A - People wor- shipped at stupas by walking around them and praying at the same time.

Q - What were some of the beliefs and practices of the stricter monks and what type of
buddhism is it called?

A - The strict monks believed in such things as not eating after midday; no dancing, singing or
amusements; no flowers, cosmetics (化粧品) or other decorations. They believed that Gautama
was an ordinary man, not a god. They also said that only monks would ever get to Nirvana. This
strict kind of Buddhism was called Hinayana. (Sometimes it is known as Theravada.)
History Asoka

Q - What did the less strict monks believe regarding Nirvana and Gautama?

A - The monks who were not so strict believed that ordinary people could also get to Nirvana.
They believed that Gautama was a god and not a human being. Their kind of Buddhism was
call- ed Mahayana. Buddhism therefore divided into two groups.

Q - Where and why was a meeting arranged for the monks? And where did the less strict monks
move?

A - A big meeting of monks was held in 250 BC at Patna in northern India to talk about these
differences. The strict monks were the larger and stronger group. The monks who were not so
strict moved away quite peacefully towards north-west India.

Q - What did the less strict monks come across and how did the statue of buddha come into
existence? // Of what Greek God’s statue did they see?

A - They came across the Greek civilization which had been taken there by Alexander the
Great. Some people think that the monks saw statues of the Greek god Apollo here, and copied
them to make statues of Budd- ha.

Q - In which countries did the missionaries go to and what type of Buddhism did they teach?

A - Missionaries went to Sri Lanka, Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and the rest of South-east Asia.
They taught the Hinayana kind of Buddhism which is still practised in these countries today.