Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t16.26

v1.c7.s7.t16.26

Both Pali and Chinese texts contain the teachings of Sanjaya Belatthiputra. Some of his ideas are close to Buddhism. For example, according to the *Samaññaphala Sutta* (Book 32), he is said to have said, “If you ask me if there exists another world after death, if I thought that there exists another world, would I declare that to you? I don’t think so. I don’t think in that way. I don’t think otherwise. I don’t think not, and I don’t think not not.” When being asked whether there are retribution for good and bad and whether Buddha exists or not after death, he would not give an explicit answer, and indicate the answer cannot be no or yes or anything clear-cut. This is similar to Buddhism’s 10 or 14 Avyakrtas. The *Dirghagama-sutra*, in Book 17, also states, that when being asked whether human deeds and cultivation have retribution, he replies, “There is retribution, there is no retribution, there is not and there is not not”. This indicates that he was skeptical of the then prevailing ideas, and it was a popular approach then adopted to oppose Brahmanism.