The Role of the So-called A?oka Inscriptions in the Attempt to Date the Buddha

摘要

The date of the Buddha is calculated on the basis of the date of A?oka’s consecration. According to one Buddhist tradition this event took place 100 years after the Buddha’s death, according to another tradition 218 later. A?oka’s dates, in turn, are calibrated by those of the certain Greek kings mentioned in Rock Edict xiii. However, in the present article it is argued that the “A?oka inscriptions” are not necessarily by A?oka and that the name A?oka found in some of the inscriptions is a later insertion.