Tao Te Ching
Ashoka
304 – 232 BCE
One of the world's most enlightened leaders
One of India’s greatest emperors, after witnessing the immense bloodshed during a war Ashoka became the first Buddhist leader and sent teachers as far away as Egypt, Greece, Nepal, China, Thailand and Viet Nam. He brought about a golden age for India, renounced violence and religious intolerance, built 84,000 monasteries, hospitals for people and animals, championed the environment, human rights and gender equality. He was the first ruler in human history to ban slavery, the death penalty, animal cruelty, and deforestation. H.G. Wells wrote that his reign, “was one of the brightest interludes in the troubled history of mankind.”
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Quotes by Ashoka (5 quotes)
“It is forbidden to decry other sects; the true believer gives honor to whatever in them is worthy of honor.”
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“All men are my children. What I desire for my own children—and I desire their welfare and happiness both in this world and the next—that I desire for all men.”
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“The greatest of all victories is the victory of righteousness.”
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“May the partisans of all doctrines in all countries unite and live in a common fellowship. For all alike profess mastery to be attained over oneself and purity of the heart.”
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“Whoever praises his own religion, due to excessive devotion, and condemns others with the thought 'Let me glorify my own religion,' only harms his own religion. Therefore contact (between religions) is good. One should listen to and respect the doctrines professed by others.”
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Quotes about Ashoka (4 quotes)
“Somewhere, sometime, in the name of humanity, we must challenge a thousand evil precedents , and dare to apply the Golden Rule to nations as the Buddhist King Ashoka did in 262 BCE”
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“Buddhism, at this time, was a vigorous proselytizing religion. Ashoka, the saintly Buddhist king, records, in a still extant inscription, that he sent missionaries to all the Macedonian kings”
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“the great Buddhist Emperor Ashoka is an example of the effect of Buddhist teaching upon character and policy... Quoting 'All men are my children,' he ordered the establishment of hospitals, that shade and fruit trees should be planted by the high roads, that animals should not be killed for his table, that all animate beings should have security, self-control, peace of mind, and joyousness”
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“Ashoka's reign was one of the brightest interludes in the troubled history of mankind... For 28 years he worked sanely for the real needs of men. Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history, the name of Asoka shines, and shines, almost alone, a star... the only military monarch on record who abandoned warfare after victory... his life was devoted to the spreading of Buddhism throughout the world.”
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