ਬੁੱਧਾ ਦੀਆਂ ਸੂਚੀਆਂ ਦੀ ਪੂਰਨ ਪੁਸਤਕ - ਵਿਖਿਆਨ ਕੀਤਾ ਗਿਆ ਡੇਵਿਡ ਐਨ. ਸਨੀਡਰ, ਪੀਐਚ.ਡੀ., 2006.
http://www.thedhamma.com/
ਬੌਧੀ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ਨ ਸੁਸਾਇਟੀ, 2014 ਦੇ ਅਰਲੀ ਬੋਧੀ ਟੈਕਸਟਸ ਦੀ ਪ੍ਰਮਾਣਿਕਤਾ
https://suttacentral.net/
Dhhammawiki.com
1-10 ਤੋਂ ਲੈ ਕੇ ਹੁਣ ਤਕ ਹਾਲ ਹੀ ਦੇ ਸਮੇਂ ਪਾਲੀ ਕੈਨਨ ਦਾ ਇਤਿਹਾਸ - ਧਾਮ ਵਿਕੀ
ਆਪਣੇ
ਬੋਧੀ ਭਾਰਤ (ਥ. 188) ਵਿੱਚ ਥਾਮਸ ਵਿਲੀਅਮ ਰਾਇਸ ਡੇਵਿਡ ਨੇ ਬੁੱਧ ਦੇ ਸਮੇਂ ਤੋਂ ਬੁੱਧ
ਦੇ ਸਮੇਂ ਤੱਕ ਅਸ਼ੋਕਾ ਦੇ ਸਮੇਂ ਬੌਧ ਸਾਹਿਤ ਦੇ ਸਾਰਕ ਸਾਰਣੀ ਨੂੰ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਹੈ.

مهاتما بوه جي فهرستن جو پورو ڪتاب - وضاحت ڪيل. David N. Snyder، پي. ڊي.، 2006.
http://www.thedhamma.com/
Early Buddhist Texts of Authenticity، Buddhist Publication Society، 2014.
https://suttacentral.net/
dhammawiki.com
1-10 پوالي ڪنون جي تازي ڪرسمس کي شروعاتي - ڈھम्मा ويکي
سندس
هندوستان ۾ تومس وليم ريو ڊيوڊس (ص 188) ۾ مهاتما ٻڌ جي زماني کان بھوت
ادب جي هڪ تاريخي جدول کي اشارو ڪيو آهي جنهن ۾ هن ريت آهي:

Map of the Maurya Empire under Ashoka’s rule.

The Sanchi stupa in Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh established by emperor Ashoka in the third century BC.

Fragment of the 6th Pillar Edicts of Ashoka (238 BC), in Brahmi, sandstones. British Museum.

The Ashoka Chakra, featured on the flag of the Republic of India

Silver punch-mark coins of the Mauryan empire, bear Buddhist symbols such as the Dharmacakra,
the elephant (previous form of the Buddha), the tree under which
enlightenment happened, and the burial mound where the Buddha died
(obverse). 3rd century BC.

Distribution of the Edicts of Ashoka and Ashokan territorial limits.^[7]

Greek Late Archaic style capital from Patna (Pataliputra), thought to correspond to the reign of Ashoka, 3rd century BC, Patna Museum (click image for references).

Bilingual edict (Greek and Aramaic) by king Ashoka, from Kandahar - Afghan National Museum. (Click image for translation).

Buddhist proselytism at the time of king Ashoka (260-218 BC), according to his Edicts.

“The legend of King Asoka, A study and translation of the Asokavadana“, John Strong, Princeton Library of Asian translations.

Ashoka’s Major Rock Edict inscription at Girnar

Ashokan Pillar at Vaishali

This is the famous original sandstone sculpted Lion Capital of Ashoka preserved at Sarnath Museum which was originally erected around 250 BCE atop an Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath. The angle from which this picture has been taken, minus the inverted bell-shaped lotus flower, has been adopted as the National Emblem of India showing the Horse on the left and the Bull on the right of the Ashoka Chakra in the circular base on which the four Indian lions
are standing back to back. On the far side there is an Elephant and a
Lion instead. The wheel “Ashoka Chakra” from its base has been placed
onto the center of the National Flag of India.

Those who practice the Dhamma will begin to know the Dhamma
or to gain a feel for the Dhamma in the area of meditation more markedly
than in other areas, and more extensively. For example, the
gratification that comes from being generous is moving in one way, the
gratification that comes from maintaining the precepts is moving in
another way, the feelings of gratification that come from the different
forms of goodness are moving in their own separate ways. This is called
finding gratification in skillfulness.

But all of these feelings of gratification converge in the
practice of meditation. We begin to feel moved from the moment the mind
begins to grow still, when the heart gathers its currents together to
stand solely on its own. Even though we may not yet obtain a great deal
of stillness from the inward gathering of the mind, we still find
ourselves gratified within, in a way we can clearly sense. If the mind
or the Dhamma were a material object, there wouldn’t be anyone in the
world who wouldn’t respect the religion, because the goodness, the
well-being, and the marvels that arise from the religion and from the
practicing in line with the teachings of the religion are things desired
the world over.

Goodness, well-being, marvels: These are things the world
has always desired from time immemorial — with a desire that has never
lost its taste — and they are things that will always be desired until
the world loses its meaning, or until people become extinct, having no
more sense of good and evil. That’s when the world will no longer aspire
for these great blessings. The well-being that comes from the marvels —
the Dhamma in the area of its results — is something to which all
living beings aspire, simply that their abilities differ, so that some
attain their aspirations, while others don’t.

But the Dhamma can’t be displayed for the world to perceive
with its senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch in the way
other things can. Even though there may be other immaterial phenomena
similar to the Dhamma — such as smells — still they aren’t like the true
Dhamma that is touched by the hearts of those who have practiced it. If
the Dhamma could be displayed like material objects, there is no doubt
but that the human world would have to respect the religion for the sake
of that Dhamma. This is because the Dhamma is something more marvelous
than anything else. In all the three levels of existence, there is no
greater marvel than in the Dhamma.

The Dhamma can appear as a marvel, conspicuous and clear in
the mind. The mind is what knows it — and only the mind. It can’t be
displayed in general like material objects, as when we take things out
to admire or to show off to others. The Dhamma can’t possibly be
displayed like material objects. This is what makes the world lack
interest — and lack the things that could be hoped from the Dhamma — in a
way that is really a shame.

Even those who want the marvel of the Dhamma don’t know what
the marvel is, or what the profundity of the Dhamma is, because the
mind has never had contact with that profundity. The eye has never had
contact with the marvel. The ear has never obtained any marvel from the
current of the Dhamma, because the Dhamma can’t be displayed as a
current of sound as other things can. This is one obstacle that prevents
people from becoming moved by the Dhamma, that prevents them from fully
believing and fully entrusting themselves to the Dhamma in a way
consistent with the world’s long-felt hunger for well-being and
prosperity.

Each of the Buddhas who has gained Awakening and taught the
Dhamma to the world has had to reflect to the full extent of his
intelligence and ability on the myriad ways of teaching the Dhamma to
the world so that the world could see it as a marvel, inasmuch as the
Dhamma can’t be put in shop windows or in public places. This is because
the true Dhamma lies in the heart and reveals itself only in words and
deeds, which doesn’t excite a gratifying sense of absorption in the same
way as touching the Dhamma directly with the heart.

Because there is no way to display the Dhamma directly, the
Buddhas display it indirectly through teaching. They point out the
causes — the Dhamma of conduct and practices leading to the Dhamma of
results at this or that point or this or that level; and at the same
time they proclaim the results — the excellence, the marvels of the
stages and levels of the Dhamma that can be touched with the heart, all
the way to the highest marvel, vimutti, the mental release called nibbana within the heart.

Every Buddha has to devise strategies in teaching the Dhamma
so as to bring that marvel out to the world by using various modes of
speech and conduct — for example, describing the Dhamma and showing the
conduct of the Dhamma as being like this and that — but the actual
Dhamma can’t be shown. It is something known exclusively in the heart,
in the way in which each Buddha and each arahant possesses this marvel.
None of the Buddhas, none of the arahants who possess this marvel are in
any way deficient in this regard.

The marvel lies in their hearts — simply that they can’t
take the marvel that appears there and display it in the full measure of
its wonder. Thus they devise strategies for displaying it in their
actions, which are simply attributes of the Dhamma, not the actual
Dhamma itself. For instance, the doctrine they teach in the texts is
simply an attribute of the Dhamma. Their act of teaching is also just an
attribute of the Dhamma. The actual Dhamma is when a meditator or a
person who listens to their teachings about the Dhamma follows the
Dhamma in practice and touches it stage by stage within his or her own
heart. This is called beginning to make contact with the actual Dhamma,
step by step. However much contact is made, it gives a sense of
gratification felt exclusively within the heart of the person who has
gained that contact through his or her own practice.

When it comes to ingenuity in teaching, no one excels the
Buddhas. Even so, they reveal only what they see as appropriate for
humanity. They can’t reveal the actual Dhamma — for example, by taking
out the true marvel in their hearts and unfolding it for the world to
see, saying, ‘This is the marvel of the Tathagata, of each Buddha. Do
you see it?’ This can’t be done, for here we’re talking about the marvel
of the purity of a heart that was previously swamped with defilement
like a heap of assorted excrement, but now has become a pure, unsullied
nature, or a pure, amazing nature because of the practice of constantly
and relentlessly cleansing it. They can’t show that Dhamma to the world,
saying, ‘Do you see this? Look at it. Look at it. Feast your eyes till
they’re full and then strive to make this treasure your own!’ So
instead, they teach by using various strategies for those who practice,
describing the path in full detail, in terms both of causes and of
results.

What they bring out to show is simply the current of their
voices, the breath of their mouths. That’s what they bring out to speak,
simply the breath of their mouths. They can’t bring out the real thing.
For example, when they say, ‘It’s marvelous like this,’ it’s just
sound. The marvelous nature itself can’t be brought out. All they can
bring out is the action of saying, ‘That nature is marvelous,’ so that
we can speculate for ourselves as to what that marvel is like. Even
though this doesn’t remove our doubts, it’s better than if we had never
heard about it at all.

But the basic principle in making us come to know and see
the marvel of the Dhamma is that first we have to speculate and then we
follow with practice. This qualifies as following the principles of the
Dhamma the Buddha taught, and this is fitting and proper. No matter what
the difficulties and hardships encountered in following the path, we
shouldn’t let them form barriers to our progress, because this is where
the path lies. There are no other byways that can take us easily to the
goal. If our practice is difficult, we have to stick with it. If it’s
painful, we have to bear it, because it’s a duty we have to perform, a
burden we have to carry while working so as to attain our aims.

The Dhamma of a pure mind is like this: The mind is the
Dhamma, the Dhamma is the mind. We call it a mind only as long as it is
still with the body and khandhas. Only then can we call it a pure mind, the mind of a Buddha, or the mind of an arahant. After it passes from the body and khandhas, there is no conventional reality to which it can be compared, and so we can’t call it anything at all.

No matter how marvelous that nature, no matter how much it
may be ours, there is no possible way we can use conventional realities
to describe it or to make comparisons, because that Dhamma, that realm
of release, has no conventions against which to measure things or make
comparisons. It’s the same as if we were in outer space: Which way is
north, which way is south, we don’t know. If we’re on Earth, we can say
‘east,’ ‘west,’ ‘north,’ and ’south’ because there are things that we
can observe and compare so as to tell which direction lies which way. We
take the Earth as our standard. ‘High’ and ‘low’ depend on the Earth as
their frame of reference. How much higher than this, lower than this,
north of this, south of this: These things we can say.

But if we’re out in outer space, there is no standard by
which we can measure things, and so we can’t say. Or as when we go up in
an airplane: We can’t tell how fast or how slow we’re going. When we
pass a cloud, we can tell that we’re going fast, but if we depend simply
on our eyesight, we’re sure to think that the speed of the airplane is
nowhere near the speed of a car. We can clearly see how deceptive our
eyesight is in just this way. When we ride in a car, the trees on both
sides of the road look as if they were falling in together down on the
road behind us. Actually, they stay their separate selves. It’s simply
that the car runs past them. Since there are things that we sense, that
lie close enough for comparison, it seems as if the car were going
really fast.

As for the airplane, there’s nothing to make comparisons
with, so it looks as if the plane were dawdling along, as if it were
going slower than a car, even though it’s actually many times faster.

This is how it is when we compare the mind of an ordinary run-of-the-mill person with the mind of the Buddha. Whatever the Buddha says is good and excellent, we ordinary people tend to say that it’s not.
Whatever we like, no matter how vile, we say that it’s good. We don’t
admit the truth, in the same way as thinking that a car goes faster than
an airplane.

The practice of attending to the mind is something very important. Try to develop mindfulness (sati)
and discernment so that they can keep up with the things that come and
entangle the mind. By and large, the heart itself is the instigator,
creating trouble continually, relentlessly. We then fall for the
preoccupations the heart turns out — and this makes us agitated, upset,
and saddened, all because of the thoughts formed by the heart.

These come from the heart itself, and the heart itself is
what falls for them, saying that this is this, and that is that, even
though the things it names ‘this’ and ‘that’ merely exist in line with
their nature. They have no meaning in and of themselves, that they are
like ‘’this’ or ‘that.’ The mind simply gives them meanings, and then
falls for its own meanings, making itself glad or sad over those things
without end. Thus the stress and suffering that result from
thought-formations have no end, no point of resolution, just as if we
were floating adrift in the middle of the sea waiting to breathe our
last breath.

The Buddhas all reached Awakening here in this human world
because the human world is rich in the Noble Truths. It’s where they are
plain to see. The Noble Truth of stress (dukkha) lies in the
human body. Human beings know about stress — because they’re smarter
than common animals. The Noble Truth of the origin of stress: This lies
in the human heart. The Noble Truth of the path — the path of practice
to cure defilement (kilesa), craving (tanha), and mental effluents (asava),
which are the things that produce stress: This, human beings also know.
What is the path? To put it briefly: virtue, concentration, and
discernment. These things human beings know and can put into practice.
The Noble Truth of the cessation of stress: This, human beings also
know. No matter which of these truths, all human beings know them —
although they may not know how to behave toward them or take interest in
behaving in line with them, in which case there is no way the Dhamma
can help them at all.

The Buddhas thus taught the Dhamma in the human world,
because the human world lies in the center of all the levels of
existence. We have been born in the center of existence, in the midst of
the religion. We should conform correctly to the central point of the
religion, so as to comprehend the religion’s teachings that lie in the
center of our heart.

The superlative Dhamma lies right here. It doesn’t lie
anywhere else. The mind is what can reach the Dhamma. The mind is what
knows all dhammas. The affairs of the Dhamma, then, do not lie beyond
the mind, which is a fitting vessel for them. Good, evil, pleasure,
pain: The mind knows these things before anything else knows them, so we
should develop mindfulness and discernment to be resourceful, to keep
up with the events that are always becoming involved with the mind in
the course of each day.

If we’re intent on investigating the origin of stress, which
fans out from our various thought-formations, we will find that it
arises without stop. It arises right here in the mind. It’s fashioned
right here. Even though we try to make it quiet, it won’t be still. Why?
Because of the ‘unquietness’, the thoughts with which the mind disturbs
itself, which it forms and sends out towards its preoccupations (arammana)
all the time. Once the mind sends out its thoughts, it then gathers in
stress for itself. It keeps at it, in and out like this. What goes out is the origin of stress, and what comes back in is stress.
In other words, thoughts form and go out as the origin of stress, and
when the results come back to the heart, they’re stressful. These things
are constantly being manufactured like this all the time.

When we want the mind to have even just a little bit of
calm, we really have to force it; and even then these things still
manage to drive the mind into forming thoughts whenever we let down our
guard. This is how it is with the origin of stress, which is constantly
producing suffering. It lies in the heart and is always arising. For
this reason, we must use mindfulness and discernment to diagnose and
remedy the origin of stress, to keep an eye out for it, and to snuff it
out right there, without being negligent. Wherever we sit or stand —
whatever our activity — we keep watch over this point, with mindfulness
alert to it, and discernment unraveling it so as to know it constantly
for what it truly is.

All those who practice to remove defilement practice in this
way. In particular, those who are ordained practice by going into the
forest to look for a place conducive to their striving in order to wipe
out this very enemy. Even when they stay in inhabited areas, or wherever
they go, wherever they stay, they keep their attention focused
continually, step by step, on the persistent effort to remove and
demolish the origin of stress, which is a splinter, a thorn in the
heart. Such people are bound to develop more and more ease and
well-being, step by step, in proportion to the persistence of their
striving.

We can see clearly when the mind is still and settles down:
Thought-formations are still, or don’t exist. Turmoil and disturbances
don’t occur. The stress that would otherwise result doesn’t appear. When
the mind is quiet, stress is also quiet. When thought-formations are
quiet, the origin of stress is also quiet. Stress is also quiet. All
that remains at that moment is a feeling of peace and ease.

The war between the mind and the defilements causing stress
is like this. We have to keep fighting with persistence. We have to use
mindfulness and discernment, conviction and persistence to contend with
the war that disturbs and ravages the mind, making it stagger and reel
within. The disturbances will then gradually be suppressed. Even when
there is only a moment of quiet, we will come to see the harm of the
thought-formations that are constantly disturbing us. At the same time,
we will see the benefits of mental stillness — that it’s a genuine
pleasure. Whether there is a lot of stillness or a little, pleasure
arises in proportion to the foundation of stillness or the strength of
the stillness, which in the texts is called samadhi, or concentration.

A mind centered and still is called a mind in concentration,
or a mind gathered in concentration. This is what genuine concentration
is like inside the heart. The names of the various stages of
concentration are everywhere, but actual concentration is inside the
heart. The heart is what gives rise to concentration. It produces it,
makes it on its own. When concentration is still, the mind experiences
cool respite and pleasure. It has its own foundation set firmly and
solidly within.

It’s as if we were under an eave or under the cooling shade
of a tree. We’re comfortable when it rains, we’re comfortable when the
sun is out, because we don’t have to be exposed to the sun and rain. The
same holds true with a mind that has an inner foundation of stillness:
It’s not affected by this preoccupation or that, which would otherwise
disturb and entangle it repeatedly, without respite. This is because
stillness is the heart’s dwelling — ‘concentration,’ which is one level
of home for the heart.

Discernment (pañña) is ingenuity, sound judgment,
evaluating causes and effects within and without; above, below, and in
between — inside the body — all the way to the currents of the mind that
send out thoughts from various angles. Mindfulness and discernment keep
track of these things, investigating and evaluating them so as to know
causes and effects in terms of the heart’s thought-formations, or in
terms of the nature of sankhara within us, until we see the truth of each of these things.

Don’t go investigating these things off target, by being clever with labels and interpretations that go against the truth — because in the investigation of phenomena, we investigate in line with the truth. We don’t resist the truth, for that would simply enhance the defilements causing stress at the very moment we think we’re investigating phenomena so as to remove them.

Birth we have already experienced. As for old age, we’ve
been growing old from the day of our birth, older and older, step by
step. Whatever our age, that’s how long we’ve been growing old, until we
reach the end of life. When we’re old to the nth degree, we fall apart.
In other words, we’ve been growing old from the moment of birth — older
by the day, the month, the year — older and older continually. We call
it ‘growing up’, but actually it’s growing old.

See? Investigate it for what it really is. This is the great highway — the way of nature. Don’t resist it.
For example, the body is growing old, but we don’t want it to be old.
We want it always to be young. This is called resisting the truth —
which is stress. Even when we try to resist it, we don’t get anywhere.
What do we hope to gain by resisting it and creating stress for
ourselves? Actually, we gain nothing but the stress that comes from
resisting the truth.

Use discernment to investigate just like this. Whenever pain
arises in any part of the body, if we have medicine to treat it, then
we treat it. When the medicine can take care of it, the body recovers.
When the medicine can’t, it dies. It goes on its own. There’s no need
for us to force it not to die, or to stay alive for so-and-so many
years, for that would be an absurdity. Even if we forced it, it wouldn’t
stay. We wouldn’t get any results and would just be wearing ourselves
out in vain. The body has to follow its own natural principles.

When we investigate in line with its truth this way, we can be at our ease.
Wherever there’s pain, keep aware of it continually in line with its
truth. Whether it hurts a lot or a little, keep aware of its
manifestations until it reaches the ultimate point of pain — the death
of the body — and that’s as far as it goes.

Know it in line with its truth. Don’t resist it. Don’t set up any desires,
because the setting up of desire is a deficiency, a hunger. And hunger,
no matter when or what the sort, is pain: Hunger for sleep is pain,
hunger for food is pain, hunger for water is pain. When was it ever a
good thing?

The hunger, the desires that arise, wanting things to be
like this, wanting them to be like that: These are all nothing but
disturbances, issues that give rise to stress and pain. This is why the Buddha doesn’t have us resist the truth.

Use your discernment to investigate, to contemplate in line with the natural principles of things as they already are. This is called discernment that doesn’t fly in the face of truth — and the heart can then be at ease.

We study the four ‘Noble Truths’ here in our body. In other
words, we study birth, aging, illness, and death, all of which lie in
this single heap of elements (dhatu) without ever leaving it.
Birth is an affair of these elements. Growing up or growing old, it’s
old right here. When there’s illness, it manages to be ill right here,
in one part or another. When death comes, it dies right here. So we have
to study right here — where else would we study? We have to study and
know the things that involve us directly before we study anything else.
We have to study them comprehensively and to completion — studying our
own birth, our aging, our illness and pain, and completing our study of our own death. That’s when we’ll be wise — wise to all the events around us.

People who know the Dhamma through practicing so that they are wise to the events that occur to themselves, do not flinch in the face of any of the conventional realities of the world at all.
This is how it is when we study the Dhamma, when we know and see the
Dhamma in the area of the heart — in other words, when we know rightly
and well. ‘Mindfulness and discernment that are wise all around
themselves’ are wise in this way, not wise simply from being able to remember.
They have to be wise in curing doubt, in curing the recalcitrance of
the heart, as well as in curing their own attachments and false
assumptions so as to leave only a nature that is pure and simple. That’s
when we’ll be really at ease, really relieved.

Let the khandhas be khandhas pure and simple
in their own way, without our messing with them, without our struggling
with them for power, without our forcing or coercing them to be like
this or like that. The khandhas are then khandhas, the
mind is then the mind, each with its own separate reality, each not
infringing on the others as it used to. Each performs its own duties.
This is called khandhas pure and simple, the mind pure and
simple, without any conventional realities adulterating them. What knows
is what knows, the elements are elements, the khandhas are khandhas.

Whatever things may break apart, let them break apart. We
have already known them clearly with our discernment. We have no doubts.
We’ve known them in advance, even before they die, so when death comes,
what doubts can we have? — especially now that they display the truth
of their nature for us to see clearly. This is called studying the
Dhamma, practicing the Dhamma. To study and practice this way is to
follow the same way that sages have practiced and known before us.

All of these conditions are matters of conventional reality — matters of the elements, the khandhas, or the sense media (ayatana). The four khandhas, the five khandhas,
whatever, are individual conditions, individual conditions that are
separated in line with conventions. Discernment is also a condition; and
mindfulness, another condition — conditions of the heart — but they’re
Dhamma, means of curing the mind that is clouded and obscured, means of
washing away the things that cloud and obscure it, until radiance
appears through the power of the discernment that cleanses the heart. Once the heart is radiant, in the next step it becomes pure.

Why is it pure? Because all impurities have fallen away from
it. The various misconstruings that are an affair of defilement are all
gone from the heart, so the heart is pure. This pure heart means that
we have completed our study of ourselves, in line with the statement of
the teaching: