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ASOK A
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[ 14. Man sees but his good deeds,
saying: “This good act have I done." Man sees not at all his evil deeds, saying: “That bad act have I done, that act is corruption." Such self-examina
tion is hard. Yet must a man Piilar Edict, No. 3. <
watch over himself, saying: “Such and such acts lead to corruption,-such as brutality, cruelty, anger, and pride. I will zealously see to it that I slander not out of envy. That will be to my advantage in this world, to my advantage, verily, in the world to come.”
That is all. There is not a word about God or the soul, not a word about Buddha or Buddhism. The appeal is made, in apparent confidence that the statements are self-evident, to all the subjects of the empire. Under what conditions would such a state of things have been possible? Had there been then anything new or strange in this view of life (which now seems so strange to a European reader) there would have been phrases in the Edicts striving to meet the natural objection that must certainly have arisen. There is nothing of the kind. It follows that the doctrine, as an ideal, must have been al. ready widely accepted, though men did not always act up to it. It is exactly as if, in a country already Christian, the king should issue proclamations calling on the people, in this point or in that, to act up
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
