Ājīvaka

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Ājīvaka (Skt., ‘one who practises a way’ (?)). A heterodox sect founded by Makkhali Gosala, a contemporary and opponent of the Buddha. According to Buddhist sources, Makkhali was a determinist who compared the course of a man's life to a ball of string which, when thrown down, rolls along unwinding in a preordained course until it reaches its end.

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