the two centuries before and after the common era. As local rulers and their people learned more about this Indian religion, they invited monks from the merchants’ native regions as advisors or teachers, and eventually, many adopted the Buddhist faith. Another organic method was through the slow cultural assimilation of a conquering people, such as the Greeks into the Buddhist society of Gandhara in present-day central Pakistan, during the centuries following the 2nd century BCE.

Often, the dissemination was due primarily to the influence of a powerful monarch who had adopted and supported Buddhism himself. In the mid-3rd century BCE, for example, Buddhism spread throughout northern India as a result of the personal endorsement of King Ashoka. This great empire-builder did not force his subjects to adopt the Buddhistfaith, but by posting edicts engraved on iron pillars throughout his realm exhorting his people to lead an ethical life, and by following the principles himself, he inspired others to adopt Buddha’s teachings.

King Ashoka also actively proselytized outside his kingdom by sending missions to distant lands, sometimes acting upon the invitation of foreign rulers, such as King Devanampiya Tissa of Sri Lanka. Other times he would send monks as envoys at his own initiative. The visiting monks would not pressure others to convert, but would just simply make the Buddha’s teachings available, allowing people to choose for themselves. This is evidenced by the fact that in such places as South India and southern Burma, Buddhism soon took root, while in places such as the Greek colonies in Central