History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c14.s5.1

c14.s5.1

Whatever relaxation of discipline may have taken place in private, the early Ājīvika performed penance of the most rigorous nature in public. Significant descriptions of his asceticism occur in the Pāli texts, but in reading them it must be borne in mind that some of the penances described may not have been regularly practised by the organized followers of Makkhali Gosāla, but are rather indicative of the activities of the free-lance proto-Ājīvikas.