134 ESSAYS IN NATIONAL IDEALISM.

of reverence. Nevertheless, personal adherence to a
particular creed seems to me th* chief thing." In.
another edict he says: " The adherents of the several
sects must be informed that His Majesty cares not
so much for donations or external reverence, as that thera-
ahould be a growth, and a large growth, of the essence of

the matter in all sects......The growth of the essence oŁ

the matter assumes various forms, but the root of it is.
restraint of speech, to wit, a man must not do reverence to*
his own sect by disparaging that of another man for trivial
reasons." What then was the burden of Asoka's missions,,
what was the message he so desired to communicate to all,,
what did he understand by conversion? It was not a
dogma at all ; it was the " Law of Piety" (Dhamma) :.
" The Law of Piety is excellent. But what is the Law
of Piety ? It requires innocuousness, many good deeds,,
compassion, truthfulness, purity " (Pillar Edict II). Thisr
with an insistence upon the greater value of meditation
than of ceremonial observances, was the gospel of Asokay&
missions. ' Conversion' was a turning of the heart, not>
the acceptance of a formula. Such was ;fche work of the
greatest and most successful missionary the world has seen.
Were the ideals of the Christian missionary similar, he
xnight make fewer * converts *—and more followers of Christ _
What of Hinduism ?

" If," says Mr. Grierson, ** the bhakti-cnlt is to be counted as-
a form of Hinduism (and if it is not, there would be very tew
Hindus in India), few statements so inaccurate have been made as*
that Hinduism is not a missionary religion. Here we have a form,
of belief which actually lives upon its missionany work. It ignores
all caste and condemns no religion as utterly useless, and ever
since its foundation its converts have increased in geometrical,
progression. Every follower of the cult is, and if he is genuine,,
must be, a missionary* Nor is the missionary field confined to--
existing forms of Hindu belief. The common statement that no-
Mussalman can become a Hindu is disproved by the fact that some,
of the greatest saints of the cult, men whose hymns are household