Ashoka (303-232 BC) was the emperor of the Peacock Dynasty in India, ruling almost all of the Indian subcontinent and regarded by many as the greatest emperor of India. He expanded the empire of Chandragupta, ruling from west to present-day Afghanistan and east to present-day Bangladesh, encompassing the entire Indian subcontinent, except for parts of present-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. The capital of the empire was Pataliputra (located in Magadha in present-day Patna), with the provincial capitals in Taxila and Ujjain.
He converted to Buddhism. He is famous for sending Buddhist monks to Sri Lanka and Central Asia through Ashoka's pillars and laws, as well as establishing monuments that mark several important locations in the life of Shakyamuni Buddha.
In addition to the decree of King Ashoka, information about his biography also relies on legends written centuries later, such as Ashokavadana in the 2nd century ("Ashoka's Narration", part of Divyavadana) and Mahavamsa in the Sri Lankan script ("Chronicles"). The symbol of the modern Republic of India is the adaptation of the Lion Capital of King Ashoka. His Sanskrit name "Ashoka" means "painless, carefree". Ashokavadana also mentioned his connection between names and Saraca asoca trees or "Ashoka trees".

Early life
Asoka also has half brothers and half sisters. His combat skills were clearly endowed with royal military training from a young age. He is known as a terrible hunter because according to legend, he only used a wooden stick to kill a lion. Due to his reputation as a terrible warrior and a brave general, he was sent to contain the turmoil of the Peacock Empire in Avanti Province.
Succession as king
The Peacock Dynasty ruled by King Ashoka was a monarchical dictatorship, and he himself had absolute authority in administrative, military, judicial, and other aspects. The country is divided into several provinces, and the provincial governors are usually held by princes. However, there are still many autonomous or semi independent tribes within the provinces, and the Peacock Dynasty is not yet a highly centralized country. He was the third monarch of the Peacock Dynasty and the grandson of its founder, Chandragupta. Chandragupta was an Indian military leader who conquered most of northern India during the years following Alexander the Great's expedition, thus establishing the first major empire in Indian history.

His lifelong achievements can be clearly divided into two parts. The first half of his life was during the era of the "Black Ashoka", mainly through struggle to secure the throne and the basic unification of India through military force. Around 261 BC, when he conquered the kingdom of Kalinga, 150000 people were captured, 100000 were killed, and hundreds of thousands were killed or injured. Subsequently, except for the Mysore region, the entire territory of India was unified. It is said that King Ashoka, who witnessed the massacre with his own eyes during his conquest of Karlingka, felt deeply remorseful and thus ceased his military expansion.
In the latter half of his life, during the era of the White Ashoka King, efforts were made to promote Buddhism throughout the country, which contributed to the prosperity of this global religion. The reign of King Ashoka became an unprecedented era of power in ancient Indian history. Make Buddhism the national religion without persecuting other sects, and instead generously donate to Brahmanism and Jainism. Due to Ashoka's emphasis on religion, political tolerance, and nonviolence, he ruled India for 41 years amidst the cheers of the people. [2]

Policy of governing the country
The governance policy of King Ashoka is basically based on the spirit of Buddhism, which is to achieve national unity through peaceful means. Although Ashoka was deeply moved by the tragic situation of the conquest of Karlingha, he still incorporated its land into the territory of the empire. Although he prohibited killing, he did not depose the death penalty.
Although he is a Buddhist, he is also tolerant of other religions and allows their existence, allowing Brahmanism, Jainism, and their traditional culture to coexist. His religious policy also became a tradition for future Indian monarchs.

Spread Buddhism
After the end of the war, King Ashoka began to focus on worshipping the Buddha. He built temples extensively, gathered monks from all directions, compiled, improved, and organized many Buddhist scriptures, which greatly developed Buddhism. This period can be said to be the golden age of Indian Buddhism. In addition, he also sent monks out to preach. [4]
King Ashoka announced that he would no longer initiate wars and would try to minimize casualties even in unavoidable situations. He established Buddhism as the state religion and engraved his edicts and the spirit of "righteousness" on cliffs and stone pillars, becoming the famous Ashoka Cliff Edict and Ashoka Stone Pillar Edict. These contents of the "Dharma" reflect the basic spirit of Buddhism and also include the political needs of Ashoka himself.
King Ashoka donated a large amount of property and land to the Buddhist monastic community, and also built Buddhist buildings throughout the country. It is said that a total of 84000 Buddhist relics pagodas were built to worship Buddha bones. In order to eliminate controversies among different Buddhist sects, King Ashoka invited the renowned monk, Emperor Jianlian, Elder Xu, to gather 1000 monks and hold a grand assembly in Huashi City (the third grand assembly in Buddhist history), expelling outsiders, compiling scriptures, and compiling the Analects. King Ashoka began sending Buddhist missions, including princes and princesses, to border areas and neighboring countries to spread Buddhism. Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and even Syria, Egypt, and other places have their diligent footprints. This is the beginning of Buddhism's journey out of India and towards a global religion.

Advocate for the right law
The legitimate laws advocated by King Ashoka include the following basic contents
To be kind and compassionate towards others, including filial piety to parents and treating relatives and friends.
We should also respect the lives of animals, as they are also a part of equality for all living beings.
Do more good deeds that benefit the public
We should be tolerant towards other religions and coexist peacefully.
The Basic Spirit of Buddhist Righteousness
King Ashoka built 84000 Buddhist stupas throughout the country, helped the monastic community multiple times, and provided offerings to the Three Treasures. King Ashoka also sent many great and virtuous monks to promote Buddhism throughout the country and even abroad. These missionary monks and ministers, from Myanmar to Egypt and the Hellenistic world, all have their footprints. Due to Ashoka's later repentance and active love for the people, life, and Buddhism, he was revered as the King of Dharma Protectors.
In 232 BC, King Ashoka left his people under the honorific title of "Protector King". The Peacock Dynasty did not last long and gradually declined after his death, lasting only half a century before coming to an end. India once again fell into a state of division and separatism. However, due to Ashoka's support for Buddhism, he had a widespread influence around the world. Less than fifty years after the death of King Ashoka, the Peacock Empire collapsed and never recovered thereafter. But Buddhism has received support from Ashoka, and his long-term influence on the world is enormous. When he ascended the throne, Buddhism was only popular in a small area of northwest India, but by the time of his death, Buddhist followers had spread throughout India and quickly spread to neighboring countries. Apart from Siddhartha Gautama himself, Ashoka played a greater role in the development of Buddhism as a major religion than anyone else.

Buddha parietal bone relics
On June 12, 2010, World Cultural Heritage Day, at 9:15 am, in the presence of 108 eminent monks and masters from home and abroad, the golden coffin and silver coffin of the Seven Treasures Ayu King Pagoda were opened, and the relics of the Buddha's parietal bone were restored to the human world at Qixia Temple in Nanjing. CCTV and others conducted live broadcasts. [6]
At around 8:40 am, the Seven Treasures Ayu King Pagoda and the Golden Coffin and Silver Coffin were transported to Qixia Temple, accompanied by fully armed armed armed police on the way.
At 9:15 am, 108 eminent monks and monks gathered at Qixia Temple to hold a grand opening and consecration ceremony to welcome the Buddha's parietal bone relics. After the Dharma assembly, a senior monk will come forward, and the true bone of the Buddha's head and the sensory relics will be invited out. They will be immediately moved to a specially designed constant temperature and humidity sealed box for preservation and will be enshrined in the Qixia Temple Dharma Hall for a month.
In July 2008, the Seven Treasures Ashoka Pagoda unearthed from the underground palace of Changgan Temple at the Da Bao En Temple site in Nanjing was the largest Ashoka Pagoda discovered in China and around the world. According to verification, there are two sets of gold coffins and silver coffins enshrined inside the tower, which contain rare Buddhist relics such as the "Buddha's Top True Bone" and "Ten Sensory Sacrifices". It has been over two thousand years and is the only surviving Buddha's Top True Bone relic in the world.
Shakyamuni is a legendary figure known as the Buddha. According to legend, after the Buddha's death, his body was cremated in the southern part of the city where he was imprisoned in ancient India. The disciples discovered some strange crystals in the ashes, which were these magical particles known as "relics" by the disciples. However, one of the most important behind the scenes drivers of his influence in the world is Ashoka.

The introduction of Ashoka in the Buddhist Dictionary is too cold and icy. In it, the Ashoka you see is like every bloodthirsty young man in a vast royal family. When he was young, he fought and killed his brothers cruelly, unified India, became the third king of the Peacock Dynasty, and converted to Buddhism.

According to records, during the reign of King Ashoka, he regretted the cruelty of leading his army to participate in war. Therefore, not only did he receive the Five Precepts, but he also established Buddhism as the national religion. After Shakyamuni, he also called on the world not to engage in war and distributed the Buddhist relics he received to various countries. Overnight, he built 84000 temples and towers in the world. This is the origin of the dispersion of Buddha's relics. Moreover, according to the classic work of Tang Dynasty Buddhism, "Fayuan Zhulin," it is believed that in a sense, all the towers under the pagoda were built by King Ashoka to enshrine the true body relics of Shakyamuni Buddha. All such towers are called the King Ashoka Pagoda. However, because the movie is easy to understand, if you want to understand this character who is no less well-known in India than the legendary Taj Mahal, it is best to feel it through the plot of the movie "Ashoka", especially its music. The historical distribution of 19 true body relics pagodas is difficult to connect in terms of time, and it is even unknown how the ten thousand Ayu King Pagodas were erected overnight. However, there is no need to worry about these. In the 21st century, what can be seen is the distribution map of the 19 ancient Chinese pagodas of Shakyamuni Buddha's true body relics in an exhibition hall of the Famen Temple Museum in Xi'an. This picture is said to have been obtained based on information from "The Pearl Forest in the Law Garden".
Before the Tang Dynasty, people only passed down the deeds of King Ashoka to each other. However, the Buddhist leader of the Tang Dynasty, Shi Daoshi, and his friends, after extensive research throughout the country, spent 10 years writing a hundred volume "The Pearl Forest of the Dharma Garden". Among them, they specifically listed the names of the nineteen pagodas built by King Ashoka in China to worship the true body relics of Buddha Shakyamuni, as well as the time and location of their construction. Although there were already "a hundred thousand" Buddhist temples across the country at that time, Shi Daoshi believed that only these 19 were built by King Ashoka, and there were relics of the Buddha in the underground palace.
At that time, researchers believed that although these 19 pagodas were built during the Jin and Sui dynasties, they were not "newly built", but rather "repaired". Therefore, the underground palace had not been "moved", which is clearly inconsistent with historical records. But in the 21st century, understanding their distribution can help you gain some knowledge for yourself, especially the Changgan Temple in Jinling, which is ranked second in this archaeological study, because it has the relics of the Buddha's parietal bone, which are very prestigious.
It is interesting that the Buddha relics in the top two towers were discovered by Liu Sahe. The first ranked Asoka Temple in Ningbo is the only one among the 19 that has survived to this day, so the relic letter has never touched it.