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Are Buddhists naughty, 18 000 killed
lobster
Crusty Veteran
Been feeling morally suoerior lately? Tsk, tsk. How about if 18 000 early atheists were massacred by Buddhist decree, effectively dissapearing their doctrine? Would that be naught or naughty? Not your problem?
Ashokavadana also mentions that after his conversion to Buddhism, Bindusara's son Ashoka issued an order to kill all the Ajivikas in Pundravardhana, enraged at a picture that depicted Gautama Buddha in negative light. Around 18,000 followers of the Ajivika sect were executed as a result of this order.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ājīvika
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Sure has a familiar ring to it...
It was for peace
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I don't understand the point of the thread.
Just another time where religion is used as an excuse and a weapon to keep power from being threatened.
What casts Buddha in more a negative light, a drawing or a Buddhist decree for murder?
There are wise and stupid people everywhere.
First I heard of this. Gonna have to do some research on this little known set of people.
I was aware that ancient 'rival' traditions to Buddhism existed. As @silver mentions religious fanatics always feel their path to peace needs protecting through extreme measures. Same old story.
These ancient traditions of atheism or deity as irrelevant, created a unique cross fertilisation, from what we know.
Quite intriguing group the Ajivika and so far their teachings have not emerged, if they even still exist, maybe they were just appropriated ... The Buddhas time was incredibly rich in terms of religious emergence. Jainism did survive.
buddhists=humans=naughty
SSDD, all through history.
There were all kinds of thought around at the Buddha's time, including atheism and materialism. This diversity does tend to undermine Stephen Batchelors "rebirth and kamma as skillful means" argument, but that's another discussion.
Exactly so. Ancient and modern. In our religion and others. Inside and out.
One good Christian contemplative is worth a thousand sect killing Buddhist aristocrats. One humble Muslim a thousand kalachakra rebirthers.
Never, ever forget who the real wider sangha are and who the dharma infidels ...
... and now back to the koran burners, invading heretics, pagan slaughtering, monk kicking etc ... or preferably the kindness ...
I think you should light a large bonfire and throw all your straw-men onto it.
And ruling governments, then and now, will have political reasons for embracing a religion and misuse it to attack others. In this case, King Ashoka could have had other, political reasons to attack a people and used their insulting Buddha as the excuse. There's so much of history that's only guesswork.
That wasn't a Buddhist decree. That was an ignorance decree.
Exactly so @seeker242,
We are not responsible for every act of human or Buddhist ignorance. We are not our pasts. Shakyamuni was influenced by his past as we all are but for most of us, mistakes do not result in massacres. Better still we can overcome our ignorance.
Oh yeah!
Just as the Buddhist fanatics and politico supporters destroy, so too are our warrior monks killed.
http://chanbuddhismuk.proboards.com/post/2749
Innocents and kind dedicated people leaving this dukkha world ...