The king of the peacocks – Ashoka

"There's nothing in this life that I can't do." This is the famous quote of Ashoka, the great king of the peacock empire of ancient India. Ashoka was the third king of the Peacock Dynasty, reigning from about 268 BC to 232 BC. Since his birth, Ashoka has lived a life of clothes to stretch out his hands and food to open his mouth, and all things big and small have been served by servants, and when he became an adult, he ascended to the throne and established the Peacock Dynasty. He inherited and developed the cause of unifying India by his ancestors, led the Magadha army to conquer the north and south, and everywhere he went, he was invincible and invincible, so the kings around him were subordinate, he ended the situation of long-term war on the Indian peninsula, and made the Peacock Dynasty the first unified empire in The history of India. Ashoka's life can be described as the wind and the rain, worthy of the famous Sansk King in ancient Indian history.

Ashoka's prestige comes not only from his great exploits, but also from his rule over ancient India. After the conquest of South India, King Ah Xiang used the heroic talents who had turned to the battlefield to govern the country and security. He is tolerant and generous in his rule over the people, but he is strictly authoritarian in the implementation of policies. He established a centralized government, and with the exception of the Capital Territory, Ashoka divided the rest of the territory into four major provinces, each administered by a governor, usually a prince or relative of the emperor. There are also small administrative districts under the province. The power of the state is manipulated by him alone, and the hundred officials must act according to his will, otherwise they will be punished. As he said in his instructions, the various officials in the empire were appointed by the king and administered the broad masses of the people on behalf of the king. They have the power to reward good and punish evil, but these powers are given by the king, and local officials must be loyal to the king, accountable to the king, and adhere to the king's wishes, never disobeying, otherwise they will be severely punished. Monopoly of power was the greatest feature of the monarchy of the ancient East, and Ashoka was no exception.

In the administration of the country, Ashoka was conscientious and did not slack off in the slightest. He tried his best to handle all government affairs, from the inner court to the frontier, and he had to personally inquire into every detail. In addition, close agents are stationed in various places to report directly to him at any time. Ashoka demanded that the spies report things in a timely manner, whether he was eating, sleeping, walking, or traveling outside, and that delays were severely punished. These spies must not only understand the security and defense work in various places, that is, to find out whether there are any rebellions and disturbances in various places, but also understand the implementation of Ashoka's orders and policies in various places, and whether local officials act according to the rules and whether they are loyal to the king. This system of secret reporting was not uncommon in the ancient Eastern monarchies. During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty in China, the secret reporting system was also implemented. In fact, there are such secret agents in every period, but there is no fixed system. Ashoka first took territory by force, and then used his power to promote his edicts. When carrying out state policies, officials in various localities also preached Ashoka's royal power and national prestige, so that the common people knew very clearly that these decrees came from the central government and came from Ashoka, so that the border people who had originally surrendered only because of defeat and surrendered enjoyed the blessings of Ashoka's benevolent government, were full of confidence in the country, were full of emotion for Ashoka, and were proud of the Peacock Empire. Ashoka was well aware of this truth, so he had to promote the "Holy Law" and preach "benevolence" to appease the people.

While strengthening the centralization of power, Ashoka also vigorously preached the "holy law" based on Buddhism, that is, requiring people to be compassionate, respect their parents and elders, treat relatives and friends well, and treat slaves and servants with kindness; ask people to be lenient with others and tolerate others; ask people to temper their desires, purify their hearts, and not kill, and say that he will not take the initiative to start war in the future; in order to promote the holy law and consolidate unity, Ashoka ordered people to build roads, build caravanserais, promote some public welfare undertakings, provide employment opportunities, and solve the people's living problems. Ashoka also ordered magistrates to engrave his holy decrees on stone pillars or cliffs and to tell the world. These holy decrees inscribed in the local language not only promote the concept of holy law, but also the policies and achievements of Ashoka. This is the famous Ashoka Stone Cliff Edict and Stone Pillar Edict. Such stone carvings are scattered throughout the territory of the Peacock Empire. Ashoka inscribed the holy will on the cliff pillar in the hope that the decree would be made public, that the people everywhere would supervise whether the local officials were truly performing their duties, and that the people would have confidence in the king, so that the people could obey his rule from the depths of their hearts. In addition, Ashoka appointed special officials to deal with various religious affairs and preached the "Holy Law" in the handling of religious affairs. These officials were sent by Ashoka to guide the people to convert to the Holy Dharma and understand Ashoka's wishes. Adhering to the spirit of the Holy Law, they manage civil affairs with the principle of "benevolence", handle welfare undertakings, and take care of the lives of the poor people. In short, the most important task of the officials of the whole country is to make the people of the whole country practice the holy law and love the king, that is, to make Ashoka's Fu Ren Zhengpu descend on everyone in the empire. It can be seen that this Ashoka is not a warrior, but has a very good set of rules for governing the country.

After the promulgation of the Holy Law, in addition to instructing officials at all levels to scrupulously perform their duties, Ashoka took the lead in setting an example and practicing it himself. In order to resolutely implement the "Holy Law", Ashoka changed many of his habits. In the past, in order to enjoy the pleasure of mouthing, Ashoka's court cook did not know how many birds and beasts to slaughter every day, let alone ordinary chickens and ducks, but since the promulgation of the Holy Law, Ashoka ordered that only two birds and one beast should be slaughtered every day. Even so, Ashoka could not bear it, and he was very happy if he did not slaughter the livestock. This shows his determination to promote and carry forward the "Holy Law." In the past, Ashoka liked to go out on parades and hunts, and used these parades as a pastime, exaggerating and showing the majesty and grandeur of the king. When he decided to promulgate the Holy Law, he changed his habit of pleasure and play on the way out, visiting religious believers on the way out, visiting the elderly, and giving gifts. Financial support is also given to the poor. He ordered that in every town and village, hospitals should be set up to save lives and help the injured, and veterinarians specially used to treat livestock should be set up. On both sides of the avenue, more wells should be dug to plant trees, and pavilions, tea houses and hostels should be built so that passers-by can drink water and rest their feet. The main reason why Ashoka did these public welfare undertakings was to let the people see that the benefits of implementing the holy law were real. Ashoka, empresses, and concubines often held large-scale almsgiving events. In this way, Ashoka's holy law was carried forward, and Ashoka was deeply loved by the people.

Although Ashoka's holy law was based on Buddhist teachings, he did not make Buddhism the state religion and adopted an inclusive policy towards other religions. He declared that Buddhism, Jainism, Brahmanism and other religions would be treated equally and protected regardless of their power. But Ashoka personally has his own clear position on faith, and Buddhism is his firm belief. He once vigorously promoted Buddhism, convened Buddhist monks to hold Buddhist conferences, sent senior monks to promote Buddhism in other places, and built stupas in the empire, it is said that Ashoka built a total of 84,000 stupas throughout the country, and repeatedly gave a lot of land and property to the Buddhist monastic community, so some people in later generations called Ashoka "The Famous King of Buddhist Protectors", also translated as Aja, meaning "King of Worry-Free".

Ashoka is an out-and-out Buddhist, and there is an interesting legend about Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism. It is said that Ashoka encountered a very difficult problem in the process of conquest to achieve the unification of the empire. At that time, the whole country had basically achieved unification, and only the Dragon King, who lived in the northern pool, refused to surrender. This vast pond was in the north of the empire, and the dragon king in the pond had great divine power because he provided for the relics day and night, and Ashoka led his army three times to no avail. For this reason, Ashoka was so distracted that he didn't think about tea and dinner all day, and he couldn't think of a good way to subdue the Dragon King. Thinking about it, Ashoka suddenly thought of a point: Is it that the merit of the Dragon King in offering the relics is higher than mine, so although I have exhausted all kinds of methods, I still cannot subdue him, thinking of this, Ashoka immediately ordered people to build a pagoda and build a temple, gather Buddhist monks, and provide for the Three Jewels.

At Ashoka's urgent urging, monasteries were built all over the country, and altars were set up to invite high monks to preach the scriptures. Ashoka also personally chanted the sutra and recited the Buddha, Andrad zhifu. After a while, Ashoka secretly pondered to himself: I wonder if my merit is higher than that of the Dragon King now? Is the time to conquer the Dragon King? How to test it? Later, Ashoka came up with a clever and interesting solution. He had people use the same weight of gold to create a statue of himself and a statue of the Dragon King, put two golden statues on the scale, and when they were weighed for the first time, the scales tilted to the side of the Dragon King, indicating that the Dragon King was heavy and Ashoka was light. So Ashoka ordered the continuation of charity. After some time, the two golden statues were balanced. At this point, Ashoka was overjoyed. He continued his large-scale charity activities, and after a while, Ashoka put two more golden statues on the scale, and this time, the scales were leaning toward Ashoka's side. Ashoka looked at it and laughed happily, and the time to conquer the Dragon King finally came. When Ashoka led a large army to the Dragon King's garrison, someone suddenly came to report that the Dragon King had led his subordinates to surrender. Ashoka was overjoyed and immediately greeted him and accepted the Dragon King's surrender. In this way, Ashoka unified the country. Since then, Ashoka has been convinced of the power of the Dharma and has become a devout Buddhist.

Ashoka spent his life developing the Peacock Empire, and although he established the country by force, he ruled the country with "benevolent government" and devoted himself to preaching the holy law, laying the foundation for the rule of law in India. He built pagodas and monasteries, held Buddhist grand meetings, vigorously promoted Buddhism, determined the outstanding position of Buddhism, and promoted the development of Buddhism to a world religion. It is precisely because of these martial arts that Ashoka's name has gone down in history and has been passed down through the ages.