..續本文上一頁thin recent years there have been discovered, in all parts of India, 14 Edicts of his, inscribed on living rocks, and 8 on pillars erected by his

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　　orders. They fully prove him to have been one of the wisest and most high-minded sovereigns who ever lived.

　　295. Q. What character do these inscriptions give to Buddhism

　　A. They show it to be a religion of noble tolerance, of universal brotherhood, of righteousness and justice. It has no taint of selfishness, sectarianism or intolerance. They have done more than anything else to win for it the respect in which it is now held by the great paṇ.dits of Western countries.

　　296. Q. What most precious gift did Dharmâshoka make to Buddhism

　　A. He gave his beloved son, Mahinda, and daughter, Sanghamitta, to the Order, and sent them to Ceylon to introduce the religion.

　　297, Q. Is this fact recorded in the history of Ceylon

　　A. O yes, it is all recorded in the Mahâvansa, by the keepers of the royal records, who were then living and saw the missionaries.

　　298. Q. Is there some still visible proof of Sanghamitta”s mission

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　　A. Yes: she brought with her to Ceylon a branch ref the very Bodhi tree under which the Buddha sat when he became Enlightened, and it is still growing.

　　299. Q. Where

　　A. At Anurâdhapura. The history of it has been officially preserved to the present time. Planted in 306 B C., it is the oldest historical tree in the world.

　　300. Q. Who was the reigning sovereign at that time

　　A. Dêvanampiyatissa. His consort, Queen Anula, had invited Sanghamitta to come and establish the Bhikkhunî branch of the Order.

　　301. Q. Who came with Sanghamitta

　　A. Many other bhikkhunîs. She, in due time, admitted the Queen and many of her ladies, together with 500 virgins, into the Order.

　　302. Q. Can we trace the effects of the foreign work of the Emperor Ashoka”s missionaries

　　A. His son and daughter introduced Buddhism into Ceylon: his monks gave it to the whole of Northern India, to fourteen Indian nations outside its boundaries, and to five Greek Kings, his allies,

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　　with whom he made treaties to admit his religious preachers.

　　303. Q. Can you name them

　　A. Antiochus of Syria, Ptolemy of Egypt, Antigonus of Macedon, Margas of Cyrene, and ALEXANDER of Epiros.

　　:304. Q. Where do we learn this

　　A. From the Edicts themselves of Ashoka the Great, inscribed by him on rocks and stone pillars, which are still standing and can be seen by everybody who chooses to visit the places.

　　305. Q. Through what Western religious brother-floods did the Buddha Dharma mingle itself with Western thought

　　A. ”Through the sects of the Therapeuts of Egypt and the Essenes of Palestine.

　　306. Q. When were Buddhist books first introduced into China

　　A. As early as the second or third century B.C. Five of Dharmâshoka”s monks are said—in the Samanta Pasâdika and the Sârattha Dîpauî—two Pâlî books—to have been sent to the five pisions of China.

　　307. Q. Whence and when did it reach Korea

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　　A. From China, in the year 372 A.D.

　　308. Q. Whence and when did it reach Japan

　　A. From Korea, in 552 A.D.

　　309. Q. Whence and when did it reach Cochin China, Formosa, Java, Mongolia, Yarkand, Balk, Bokhara, Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries

　　A. Apparently in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D..

　　310. Q. From Ceylon, whither and when did it spread

　　A. To Burma, in 950 A.D., and thence gradually into Arakan, Kamboya and Pegu. In the seventh century (638 A. D.) it got to Siam, where it is now, as it has been always since then, the state religion.

　　311. Q. From Kashmir, where else did it spread besides to China

　　A. To Nepâl and Tibet.

　　312. Q. Why is it that Buddhism, which was once. the prevailing religion …

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