Aśoka Maurya (अशोक; in his own inscriptions Devānāṃpiya Piyadasi)
r. c. 268-232 BCE · Indo-Tibetan Buddhism · Prominent
Aśoka ruled most of the Indian subcontinent and had his edicts cut into rock in his own lifetime, so he still speaks in his own voice. After the slaughter at Kalinga he published his remorse in stone and called conquest by Dhamma the only conquest worth having. By Dhamma he meant a code of restraint belonging to no single sect, wider than Buddhist doctrine. He kept the death penalty.
Signature
The position Aśoka is most identified with in the Profiler:
- War
- leans Pacifism
- Authority
- Benevolence
Positions on the 8 axes the sources answer
- Society
- leans Collectivism (17 on a 0–100 scale from Collectivism to Individualism)
- Order
- leans Vertical (19 on a 0–100 scale from Vertical to Horizontal)
- Ground of Being
- leans Transcendence (75 on a 0–100 scale from Immanence to Transcendence)
- Opposition
- leans Concurrence (75 on a 0–100 scale from Sublation to Concurrence)
- Nature
- leans Harmony (75 on a 0–100 scale from Mastery to Harmony)
- Polity
- leans Illiberalism (17 on a 0–100 scale from Illiberalism to Liberalism)
- War
- leans Pacifism (25 on a 0–100 scale from Pacifism to Militarism)
- Allegiance
- strongly leans Global (90 on a 0–100 scale from Local to Global)
12 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Aśoka refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Government
- Monarchy
What is your ideal form of government? - Highest Good
- Virtue
What is the highest good? - Good and Evil
- Karmic Balance
What is the fundamental nature of good and evil? - Ethics Basis
- Virtue
What is the ultimate basis of ethics? - Authority
- Benevolence
What is the legitimate source of authority? - Death
- Other
What happens at death? - Role of Emotion
- Virtue to Cultivate
What is the proper role of emotion? - Human Nature
- Redeemably Corrupted
What is human nature? - Primary Bond
- All Beings
What is your primary bond and loyalty?