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Vol. XXII, No.-1
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medical herbs and even maintained botanical gardens for cultivation of medical plants 10 Thus, the Buddhist king Asoka spread maha. maitri and mahākarvna as early as 3rd century BC., which constitute the spirit of every true religion. Again in the separate Kalinga Edict also we find striking instances of Universal love and tolerance viz., "All men are my children, just as in regard to my owo children I desire that they may be provided with all kinds of welfare and happiness in this world and in the next, the same I desire in respect of all men." This Edict of Asoka clearly suggests that though the king was pro-Buddhist, still he was never against of any other religion and this was only possible for his practice of this metta. It is a remarkable fact here that in the remote past, in such an early age of the history of mapkind, also tolerance, specially tolerance for other religious sects atained its highest degree in the Buddhist culture. Tolerance was practised by the Buddhist to such an extreme point that they used to forgive even those miscreants who destroy the images of Buddhas, the relics and even the Good law viz. -
pratimāstupasaddharmanasa kakrosakesu ca/
na yujyate mama dveso buddhadinam na hi vyatha //11 For the better understanding of this verse, we would like to give here the english translation of the very verse as : "should others talk badly of or even destroy Holy images, reliquaries and the sacred Dharma, it is improper for me to resent it, for the Buddhas can never be injured". This verse is the brightest example of toleranee among the Buddhists. Now even more utterance of any single word against any particular religion invites mass agitation, but we should remember that such types of worldly affairs will never reach to the God or Allah whatever it may be and religion will never affected by these activities. Therefore the Bundhists believe that the worldly activities as mentioned above do not hurt the Buddhas on the Bodhisattvas and we should not be angry with the outragers. . As a father or mother does not get angry with own mischievous children, the Buddhists also do not get angry with the enemies. They also not cherish any spirit of Vengeance for them. They firmly believe that their unconditioned boundless love for enemies will ultimately change them. Their tolerance reached the last degree when they declare that a Boddhisattva should bear all kinds of pain and even also the pain of their body being turn into pieces viz; evam dharmaganavistah sagaramate bodhisattvah sarvasatvapidam sahate // Yah kayasyotsargah kayaparityagah kayanaveksa iyamasya dānapāramita // Yatkaye chidyamane ya evasya kayam chindati tesameva pramokşartham kşamate //11
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