History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c14.s3.25

c14.s3.25

The other feature of Jambuka’s initiation, burial up to the neck, is mentioned in Japanese Buddhist sources as being part of the Ājīvika’s ascetic technique.⁶ The pit in which the novice was placed may have symbolized his spiritual rebirth from the womb of Mother Earth, or, since burial was not unknown in Ancient India, his “death to the world”.