1. What does “the Dharma” mean?
2. How did Ashoka plan to spread “the Dharma?”
3. What is Ashoka’s policy on religions other than Buddhism?
4. How does Ashoka want the people in his empire to act?
5. According to Ashoka, why should people act the way he suggests?
Answers
Answer:
1. In Hinduism, dharma is the religious and moral law governing individual conduct and is one of the four, ends of life. ... In Jain philosophy, dharma, in addition to being commonly understood as moral virtue, also has the meaning—unique to Jainism—of an eternal “substance” (dravya), the medium that allows beings to move.
2..Ashoka adopted several measures to spread his dhamma. Some of them are: (i) He himself set an example before his people by strictly following Ahimsa. (ii) He appointed some; officers known as Dharam Mahamatras to spread and explain the message of dhamma. {iii) He engraved the principles of dhamma on rocks and pillars.
3.Why Ashoka stressed tolerance of religions other than Buddhism? Tolerance means respect of other beliefs and customs, which is the the quality of 8-fold path.
4.
Upset with his violent conquests that killed hundreds of thousands, the Indian king Ashoka embraced Buddhism and treated his subjects humanely. Emperor Ashoka is credited with remaking the Mauyran Dynasty from a war machine into a society of tolerance and nonviolence, based on Buddhism.