..续本文上一页andfather of the mighty Emperor Ashoka, who ascended the Magadha throne in the year 218 after the passing away of the Buddha and ruled over the vast empire for forty-one years.

　　Ashoka was not born a Buddhist. He had been a ruthless King, known for his cruelty, whose insatiable ambition was to conquer more and more territories and expand his powers. His empire extended northeastward as far as Kamarupa (Assam), and included Kashmir as well as Nepal. On the northwest it stretched to include the lands of Paropanisadae (Kabul), Arachosia (Kandahar), Aria (Herat), and parts of Gedrosia (Baluchistan). In the south it covered almost the whole peninsular, down to the Penner river.

　　After his conversion to Buddhism, Ashoka became a changed man. He renounced the policy of Conquest by War (yuddhavijaya), which necessarily involved killing and destruction, and embarked upon the policy of Conquest by Dhamma (dhammavijaya), which subsequently became his lifelong passion and mission. Under his patronage, Buddhism prospered as never before. His stone inscriptions eloquently speak of the religious activities during his time, both within his empire as well as in other countries, with which he maintained a close diplomatic relationship. Thus, we have clear evidence today of the ”mission of piety” that he sent to many foreign lands, including five Greek countries, whose kings have been identified as Magas of Cyrene (300-258 BC), Ptolemy II of Egypt (285-247 BC), Antigonas Gonatas of Macedonia (276-246 BC), Alexander of Epirus (272-258 BC), and Antiochus II of Syria (261-246 BC).

　　It was under the auspices of Ashoka that the third Buddhist Council was held, presided over by his spiritual master, Venerable Moggalliputta Tissa, and attended by one thousand Arahants (enlightened beings). After the successful conclusion of the council, nine missions of elders were dispatched to spread the Dhamma in various states and foreign countries. It was the first recorded instance of state-sponsored missionary activities in the history of religions. One of the missions, led by Venerables Sona and Uttara, arrived in Suvannabhumi, a country to the west of India. The administrative center of Suvannabhumi has been identified as the province of Nakhon Pathom in central Thailand. The establishment of the religion there thus dates back as far as some twenty-three centuries ago.

　　The emergence of Mahayana and Theravada

　　 With the passage of time there arose certain developments within the Buddhist Order that finally led to the formation of different sects. The Mahasanghikas came into existence toward the end of the first century after the Buddha”s death. The other major school, which claimed to be orthodox and conservative, became known as Theravada. The school of the Mahasanghikas was later called Mahayana. Out of these two sects, eighteen schools had evolved by the time Ashoka was crowned emperor of Magadha. Most of these were short-lived, and finally only the two schools Theravada and Mahayana survived and prospered, although they were again pided into numerous sub-sects in later times. It was the latter that was in due course introduced into Tibet, acquiring its own distinct flavor and characteristics as the Vajrayana school.

　　Questions are often asked as to differences between the two major traditions. To be sure, most of the differences are rather superficial, and can be observed in the way monks put on their monastic garments, the way ceremonies are conducted, the languages used to record the Buddha”s teachings (Theravada adheres to the original Pali, while Mahayana uses Sanskrit), and all those cultural elements that have come to be associated with each denomination. On a deeper level, there are differences in the emphasis being placed on certain aspects of the B…

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