History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c10.s1.19

c10.s1.19

"He who performs an act or causes an act to be performed ... he who destroys life, the thief, the housebreaker, the plunderer ... the highway robber, the adulterer and the liar ... commit no sin. Even if with a razor-sharp discus a man reduce all the life on earth to a single heap of flesh, he commits no sin .... If he come down the south bank of the Ganges, slaying, maiming, and torturing, and causing others to be slain, maimed, or tortured, he commits no sin, neither does sin approach him. Likewise if a man go down the north bank of the Ganges, giving alms and sacrificing, and causing alms to be given and sacrifices to be performed, he acquires no merit, neither does merit approach him. From liberality, self-control, abstinence, and honesty is derived neither merit, nor the approach of merit."¹