History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c10.s1.29

c10.s1.29

There is no (merit in) almsgiving sacrifice or offering, no result or ripening of good or evil deeds. There is no passing from this world to the next.¹ No benefit accrues from the service of mother or father.² There is no after-life, and there are no ascetics or brāhmaṇas who have reached perfection on the right path, and who, having known and experienced this world and the world beyond, publish (their knowledge). Man is formed of the four elements; when he dies earth returns to the aggregate of earth, water to water, fire to fire, and air to air, while the senses vanish into space. Four men with the bier take up the corpse; they gossip (about the dead man) as far as the burning-ground,³ (where) his bones turn the colour of a dove's wing, and his sacrifices end in ashes. They are fools who preach almsgiving, and those who maintain the existence (of immaterial categories) speak vain and lying nonsense. When the body dies both fool and wise alike are cut off and perish. They do not survive after death.⁴