King Ashoka, great Buddhist Emperror of India ~ Hoa Ngọc Lan

King Ashoka (304 - 232 BC.) was a greatest Buddhist Emperor in India. Before converting into Buddhism, he was a strong Hindu king who had many conquests and stretched his empire stretched from present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan and parts of Iran in the west, to the present-day Bengal and Assam states of India in the east, and as far south as the Mysore state. After witnessing the mass deaths of the war of Kalinga, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest, his compassion was strongly raised, he could not get sleep for nights because he was haunted by the scene of damaged, burnt houses and dead bodies of the battle in Kalinga. Eventually, he converted into Buddhism under the guidance of the Buddhist sages Radhaswami and Manjushri.

It is not overstated to say that his conversion was a historic event in his life as well as in Buddhist history. As a Buddhist, King Ashoka supported many important things to Buddhism. He practiced moral methods in ruled his country, he ordered to establish many charity organizations throughout his nation, i.e. building hospitals, wells, guest houses for the poor and passengers, etc.

Moreover, he established many rock edicts at places which are related to Buddha's life from birth to death and sent missionaries to foreign countries in order to propagate Buddhism, to spread the Buddha's teachings to people beyond his country borders. These two are nowadays considered to be paramount important significance in history of Buddhism in India in particular and all over the world in general. His edicts are concrete evidences of the existence of Buddhism in history and they proved that the Buddha was a real person, neither a character in myth nor a God.

King Ashoka had vital contributions to Buddhism so that I would like to introduce you about him. The following is a short video clips deals with King Ashoka, about his life and his works.