Question

In regard to Ashoka’s dhamma, answer the following questions:

1. What were the problems that troubled Ashoka, and how did his Dhamma solve them?
2. What steps did Ashoka take to spread the message of dhamma?

Answer 1

Instructions: Make sure to cover the following points in your answer:

• The problems Ashoka faced and how his dhamma solved them
• How Ashoka spread the message of Dhamma

Solution:

• Some of the problems that troubled Ashoka were:
  • Quarrels of people
  • Animal sacrifice
  • Ill treatment of slaves and servants
  • Conflicts due to religion
• In order to solve these problems, Ashoka formulated his dhamma which was inspired
• by Buddha’s teachings, and it did not involve the worship of a god, or the performance
• of sacrifice.
• To spread the message of dhamma, Ashoka did the following things:
  • Appointed officials known as the dhamma mahamatraa who travelled from place to place
  • His messages were inscribed on rocks and pillars, and the officials were instructed to read the inscriptions to those who could not read
  • Messengers were sent to spread ideas about dhamma to places such as Syria, Egypt, Greece, and Sri Lanka