number its followers, how does Buddhism at
this date compare with the other chief religions?_

A. The followers of the Buddha Dharma outnumber those of every other
religion.

280. Q. _What is the estimated number?_

A. About five hundred millions (5,000 lakhs or 500 crores): this is
five-thirteenths, or not quite half, of the estimated population of the
globe.

281. Q. _Have many great battles been fought and many countries
conquered; has much human blood been spilt to spread the Buddha Dharma?_

A. History does not record one of those cruelties and crimes as having
been committed to propagate our religion. So far as we know, it has
not caused the spilling of a drop of blood. (See footnote
_ante_--Professor Kolb's testimony.)

282. Q. _What, then, is the secret of its wonderful spread?_

A. It can be nothing else than its intrinsic excellence: its
self-evident basis of truth, its sublime moral teaching, and its
sufficiency for all human needs.

283. Q. _How has it been propagated?_

A. The Buddha, during the forty-five years of his life as a Teacher,
travelled widely in India and preached the Dharma. He sent his wisest
and best disciples to do the same throughout India.

284. Q. _When did He send for his pioneer missionaries?_

A. On the full-moon day of the month _Wap_ (October).

285. Q. _What did he tell them?_

A. He called them together and said: "Go forth, Bhikkhus, go and
preach the law to the world. Work for the good of others as well as
for your own.... Bear ye the glad tidings to every man. Let no two of
you take the same way."

286. Q. _How long before the Christian era did this happen?_

A. About six centuries.

287. Q. _What help did Kings give?_

A. Besides the lower classes, great Kings, R[=a]j[=a]s and
Mah[=a]r[=a]j[=a]s were converted and gave their influence to spread
the religion.

288. Q. _What about pilgrims?_

A. Learned pilgrims came in different centuries to India and carried
back with them books and teachings to their native lands. So,
gradually, whole nations forsook their own faiths and became Buddhists.

289. Q. _To whom, more than to any other person, is the world
indebted for the permanent establishment of Buddha's religion?_

A. To the Emperor Ashoka, surnamed the Great, sometimes Piyad[=a]si,
sometimes Dharm[=a]shoka. He was the son of Bindus[=a]ra, King of
Magadha, arid grandson of Chandragupta, who drove the Greeks out