It is a well known fact that King Asoka was a violent conquerer who killed thousands of people before being introduced to the great religion, Buddhism. Buddhism helped him to curb his anger as it teaches you not to cause harm to others. It is the only democratic religion and truly peaceful religion in the world. This fact is not well-represented in the film.
shareHis wife is Buddhist, he is shown to be fighting her ahimsa principles, then he sees a monk as he goes back to the battlefield... The movie ends with his renouncing war - his spreading Buddhism happened after the Kalinga war and is a later part of his life - this film was his journey from cruel prince/emperor to the point where he renounces war. I think the movie does an excellent job of showing early Buddhism.
shareIt was his fourth wife Devi who introduced him to Buddhism. The movie is slightly inaccurate but the same goes for alot other historical epics.
shareActually he was well-introduced to Buddhism right from his childhood.
Like all religions, buddhism wasn't untouched by violence, blood and wars.
Also, your claim that Buddhism is the only democratic religion, the same can be applied to many such other thoughts of Santana Dharma.
share
It is the only democratic religion and truly peaceful religion in the world
Buddhism is general democratic and non-violent but we cannot forget the pacifistic Jainism and many sects of Buddhism. The good thing about dharmic faiths is their inclusivism; hence in many countries local deities sit hand in hand with the Bodhisattvas as is the case with the Kami in Japan. Judaeo-Christian faiths on the other hand are very exclusive and seek to destroy the shrines and worship of other deities.
"An eye for an eye only ends up leaving the whole world blind" - Gandhiji
My full name is Siddhartha (the birth name of the Buddha) and though I am American, my parents hail from Orissa (ancient Kalinga). I have visited Dhauli-giri and other landmarks that pertain to the Ashoka's "conversion" to the faith and have learned about the history the movie depicts since childhood. This alone does not make me an expert but I will add this much:
King Ashoka converted to Buddhism prior to the war against Kalinga, 2-3 years before, but only nominally, at the behest of his first wife; many in his kingdom were already Buddhist. After the war with Kalinga, he became a true Buddhist (Kalinga was predominantly and devoutly Buddhist, unlike most of his other dominions) and enacted measures that were unprecedented in history (the first bill of human rights, etc.) and was also instrumental, following this "real" conversion, in spreading Buddhism across the world, and had even sent missionaries to Greece. It caught on mostly in the areas of eastern Asia, South Asia (notably, Sri Lanka) and his existing kingdom. Centuries after, it was absorbed back into Hinduism in India itself, with variations of absorption based on region. Its influence in Oriya Hinduism and say, Nepalese Hinduism, is quite strong, but not so much in western India, for example. The reasons for its folding back into Hinduism will cause controversy as it primarily has to do with the impact of Islamic incursions into South Asia.
I was disappointed to learn that even after his conversion, Ashoka still murdered many people, i.e. 'heretics' against Buddhism, which shows he was no different to some of those Christian Popes.
shareIt is not cleared I think...
Here it says that he embraced Buddhism after a war, wars...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka#Buddhist_conversion
usually movies lie...
also, even though Asoka is an Indian, it is said that Indians knew less about him before modern era (1915 BCE) etc. reasons are India became HINDUsthan etc...
And it seems to be other Buddhist countries (Soth East Asian Etc.) knew about Ashoka more!
Here in Sri Lanka, we heard that Asoka was regretting after seeing tragic after-war situation after the Kalinga war. Then he saw a little Buddhist monk wandering/traveling calm and peacefully. Seeing that little monk, the emperor wanted his peaceful mind, and embraced Buddhism...
Then later he 'puja' his children to the 'sasana' and later later wanted to share the 'dharma' across the world....
There may be lots of tales like this one.....
Buddhism helped him to curb his anger as it teaches you not to cause harm to others. It is the only democratic religion and truly peaceful religion in the world.
Sadly, you seem to have a very limited understanding of Buddhism... Buddhism has various forms and sects- (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana/ Tantra, etc). Each of them is different from the other.
Tathagata 'Buddha' was a great teacher who lived and taught in ancient India. He taught the great values of renunciation and detachment and way(s) of getting rid of illusory attachments in the path of attaining nibbana. He taught against the oppressive caste hierarchy and rigidity of Brahminism. If you read the Pali texts (the Nikayas, the Sutta and Vinaya Pitaka, and Dhammapada) or their translations, you will not find any mention of violence. It is basically an agnostic, even atheistic position that is focused on the 'self', on getting rid of Dukkha (variously translated as suffering, affliction, pain, etc).
Buddhism, as and how it existed in India, died long ago, thanks to persecution by Brahminism and later Islam. Sanatan Dharma is great, yes, but Sankacharya comes much later. He takes many things from non-Brahminic (read Sraman - Buddhist, Jain, Ajivikas others)philosophy. Also, he and his followers are responsible for breaking down many viharas, shrines and burning down libraries. Just google and read up on how the king Shashanka destroyed so many libraries and Buddhist shrines! Thereafter, Islam comes to the subcontinent and Bakhtiyar Khalji also ends up desecrating a lot of shrines and centres of learning.
By this time, of course Buddhism had spread to other places in Asia and S. E. Asia. But there were many fractions. India only sees a revival of Buddhism in the 19th and 20th centuries, owing initially to the effort of the British, and later owing to B.R. Ambedkar and Anagarika Dharmapala of Sri Lanka. In fact, Tathagata is still seen in India as a great teacher, unlike in other places, where Buddhism has become a full-fledged religion.
So, you cannot equate Buddhism with the Dalai Lama alone (who hails from the Vajrayana/ Tibetan sect)... You have to look at Anagarika Dharmapala, B.R. Ambedkar and others... And don't get me started on China, and how it has time and again tried to repress Tibetan identity (which draws upon Buddhism) and Tibetan self-determination!
India today (despite the occasional riots and bad blood) is a pluralistic nation-state with many, many traditions of faith, worship, belief and religion. You have a Ajmer-i-Sharif and a Meenakshi temple, you have a Varanasi and a Taj Mahal, you have a golden temple and a Srabana Belgola, you have a Bodhgaya and a Sarnath!!! ... it's high time Indians woke up to this rich and diverse heritage, and learnt to respect and love each other, celebrate this pluralism and live together!
Look i'm not saying I think Buddhism is universally bad. I'm not anti-Buddhist at all. I'm just tired of this stereotype that Buddhism is flawless and turns its adherents into perfect people. It's like any other religion in that it can be used for good or bad depending on whose hands it's in.
The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of history.
-Mao Zedong
Of course! Any organized religion is like that... What I meant was Buddhism (when it originated in ancient India) was very, very different from the diverse form(s) it has attained today. Philosophically, it still remains perhaps the most interesting form of agnosticism and questioning of 'self' as also questioning of forms of belief and discourse...it is also for the first time in India with Buddhism that a notion of 'ethics' and personal culpability is created... Tathagata never sets down provisos, barring observance of which one is sent to 'hell', bears god's wrath etc... in fact, there is no 'god'... however, like all religions, Buddhism eventually degenerates into a set of superstitions and rituals... it is sad how the West today understands only a Richard Gere version of Buddhism, which has come to associated with fancy lamps, bells, incense and knick-knacks... even in India, the number of people who actually bother to read the canon is few and far between...
share