History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c15.s5.10

c15.s5.10

Yet the attitude of dislike and distrust indicated by these stories is only one side of the picture. There is evidence to show that, like Aśoka 250 years later, many laymen of the Buddha’s time, while bestowing special favour on one sect, were the friends and patrons of all. We have seen that King Bimbisāra fed the Buddhist saṅgha and other religious communities, at the behest of one of his kinsmen who had become an Ājīvika ascetic.¹ A further Vinaya passage tells of a mahāmatta who was an Ājīvika disciple, and who also gave a meal to the Buddhist order, which was graced by the Buddha himself. On this occasion the Master is said to have reprimanded the bhikkhu Upananda for his impoliteness in coming late to the feast.² The Vinaya also mentions a Buddhist layman who visited a park in the company of a number of Ājīvikas³; and we have seen that the bhikkhu Udāyi was not too proud to act as matchmaker on behalf of Ājīvika laymen.⁴