Originally Posted by
sarabhanga
Thus saith King Priyadarsi (Ashoka):
This record relating to Dharma has been caused to be written by me on stone … that it may last a long time and that my sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons, may conform to it for the welfare of all men.
The growth of the essentials of Dharma is possible in many ways. But its root lies in restraint in regard to speech, which means that there should be no extolment of one’s own sect or disparagement of other sects on inappropriate occasions and that it should be moderate in every case, even on appropriate occasions. On the contrary, other sects should be duly honored in every way on all occasions.
Truly, if a person extols his own sect and disparages other sects with a view to glorifying his sect owing merely to his attachment to it, he injures his own sect very severely by acting in this way.
This is indeed the desire of Devanamapriya, that persons of all sects become well-informed about the teachings of different Dharmas, and acquire pure knowledge.
Bookmarks