Historical Fiction Assignment

Ryan Otto

King Ashoka's State of the Union address

     Preface: The following is a work of historical fiction about King Ashoka and his conversion to Buddhism after the war of Kalinga. It is a fictional State of the Union address given by Ashoka to other Indian nobility to try and convince them that introducing Buddhism to the people would prove beneficial.

     Introduction: It is important to remember that Buddhism may have died off if it were not for Ashoka. After he came into power, King Ashoka (who was the third ruler of the Mauryan dynasty in India) wanted to expand his kingdom. He sent messengers to Kalinga demanding that they give up their land but the refused. What ensued was a long and horribly bloody war with an estimated 100,000 deaths. Upon seeing the carnage which he was responsible for, Ashoka converted to Buddhism and made it the state religion of India. 

     Members of my Government, I must speak to you today concerning the conversion of the Indian people to Buddhist ways. I have seen the battlefields of the Kalingan war which I myself spent much effort and resources on. 100,000 lay dead in the wake of this war, and now that it is over it is a time for peace. I have journeyed to far places to spread the word of Buddhism and I have sent monks abroad to do likewise, but this is still not enough. For India to thrive, we must embrace the teachings of Buddha. If the people accept the four noble truths and follow the eight fold path, then suffering will finally come to an end. If we spread the philosophy of Buddhism to others, we will be greatly benefitting the people of India. I have, to this end, created fourteen edicts which I believe everyone should live by. I shall not spend time explaining all of these edicts in full, but I shall mention those which I believe to be the most important. Firstly, their shall be no slaughter nor sacrificing of animals in my domain. Next, India shall provide medicine for those in need, whether they be inside our boarders or out. I have already taken it upon myself to oversee the planting of medicinal herbs where none grow naturally so that anyone may pick them. These edicts will work to improve the lives of the people living under us. However, we must be careful not to force Buddhism onto the people. We must be tolerant and accepting of other's philosophy and religion. If we are successful in promoting the philosophy of Buddhism, I believe that we will be able to prevent 

"KING ASHOKA: His Edicts and His Times." KING ASHOKA: His Edicts and His Times. N.p.,

     n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html>.

The Indifference of Confucius Thoughts and Reflections

Ryan Otto, World History                                                                                      11/11/13

Thoughts and Reflections on: The Indifference of Confucius 

Worlds Without beginning

      Today, people view Confucius as a great and renowned philosopher and political scientist. When he was alive however, his seemingly radical political views were only heeded by a few, and no one in a high government positions. Though he made a huge impact on Chinese culture after his death, he viewed himself as a failure during his lifetime. His teachings were not of religion and spirituality, but of relationships and politics. He was indifferent to matters of God and creation, saying that humanity needs to work out our own problems before we can begin to comprehend the spiritual world. He was not concerned with any other world but the one he lived in. His belief was that the afterlife was also something with which humans should not endeavor to explore, stating that "We don't yet know about life, how can we know about death?" He was much more concerned with the reform of the Chinese government and the social hierarchy.  

The Silence of Buddha thoughts and reflections

Ryan Otto, World. History                                                                              11/11/13

Thoughts and Reflections on: The Silence of Buddha

     Perhaps one of the greatest differences between Buddhism and other religions is that Buddhism does not seek to answer the question "how did we come to be?" Instead, Buddhism focuses on the escape from suffering. Gautama Buddha had great contempt for those who pondered on such questions, equating the speculation of how we were created to fishwives tales and ghosts stories. Much like Confucius, he was not concerned with the creation of man. This question was one of the fourteen questions to which Buddha refused to try and provide an answer. This was because he did not believe that the answers to these questions, if ever discovered, would help humanity escape suffering. He believed that any time spent pondering on these matters was wasted, and that if a creator did exist, he or she was the reason for humanity's suffering and for the long and difficult path to nirvana. 

Mesopotamian digital scrapbook

     Mesopotamia is perhaps the most influential ancient civilization in terms of modern culture. One of the lasting creations of Mesopotamia is beer. Beer was discovered around the beginning of the agrarian era when humans first started gathering cereal grains to store. They would leave these grains in water to created a kind of gruel. When this gruel was left out to ferment, beer was the result. Beer is still a very common beverage in most places, and is still used for some of the same purposes that it was 15 years ago. For example, beer is still the universal symbol of hospitality. In ancient Mesopotamia, beer was typically drunk from a vat by two or more people with straws (see picture below). Beer was also a symbol of friendship and a means of celebration in ancient Mesopotamia. This is still the case today. If people want to celebrate, one of the most common things to do is to go out for drinks. Beer was also a huge commodity which was traded amongst regions, again similar to how it is used today. In modern times, beer is brewed in places like Belgium and Germany and shipped all over the world. The only fundamental difference is one of scale.