History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s1.3

c23.s1.3

The full significance of this remarkable list is by no means clear, but from the last sentence of the relevant passage of the *Sutta* it would appear that it is no mere catalogue of the contents of the cosmos, but a list of conditions and states, the whole range of which must be passed through before emancipation. It seems that Buddhaghosa² often did not understand the text upon which he was commenting, but merely guessed at its meaning. The accuracy of the list itself cannot be relied on, for before being written it must have been passed down by word of mouth by several generations of Buddhists who did not understand its full significance and were often careless of the accuracy of what was to them an unimportant passage. That later copyists introduced further errors seems probable, in view of the large number of variant readings quoted in the PTS. edition of the text. Nevertheless the partial accuracy of the *Sāmañña-phala Sutta’s* catalogue is confirmed by Jaina sources.³ As it is, it gives us the best available picture of the fantastic universe conceived by the early Ājīvikas. We consider the items of the list, in the order which they are given in the *Sutta*.