"This is good. With these means let a man seek Swarga. This is to be done. By these means it is to be done, as by them Swarga [paradise] is to be gained." (Edict ix., Wilson.)
"I pray with every variety of prayer for those who differ with me in creed, that they, following after my example, may with me attain unto eternal salvation." (Delhi Pillar, Edict vi., Prinsep.)
"And whoso doeth this is blessed of the inhabitants of this world; and in the next world endless moral merit resulteth from such religious charity." (Edict xi., Prinsep.)
"Unto no one can be repentance and peace of mind until he hath obtained supreme knowledge, perfect faith, which surmounteth all obstacles, and perpetual assent." (Rock Edict, No. vii., Prinsep.)
"In the tenth year of his anointment, the beloved King Piyadasi obtained the Sambodhi or complete knowledge." (Rock Edict, No. vii., Burnouf.)
"All the heroism that Piyadasi, the beloved of the gods, has exhibited is in view of another life. Earthly glory brings little profit, but, on the contrary, produces a loss of virtue. To toil for heaven is difficult to peasant and to prince unless by a supreme effort he gives up all." (Rock Edict, No. x., Burnouf.)
"May they [my loving subjects] obtain happiness in this world and in the next." (Second separate Edict, Burnouf.)
Early Buddhism had no prayer, no worship, say our popular treatises.
"Devânampiya has also said—Fame consisteth in this act, to meditate with devotion on my motives and on my deeds, and to pray for blessings in this world and the world to come." (Dhauli, separate Edict, No. ii., Prinsep.)