Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c7.s1.2

v1.c7.s1.2

Makkhali Gosāla upheld the doctrine of fatalism (niyati-saṅgati-bhāva) viz. a being’s sufferings or happiness does not depend upon any cause or condition. A being is helpless, he can neither help himself nor others, and he cannot attain perfection (vimutti) by exertion. He must transmigrate from one existence to another, and it is only after repeated existences that he will attain emancipation (suddhi). The consecutive existences of a being including the periods and types of existences are unalterably fixed (niyata). The several existences of a being may be compared to a ball of yarn unwinding itself, the ultimate end of the yarn being the suddhi or vimutti i.e., end of existence of a being. In every existence a being is endowed with certain characteristics (saṅgati-bhāva), peculiar to the particular form of existence without any reference to his past deeds just as “fire is hot, ice cold.”² In the Majjhima Nikāya this doctrine is described as ahetuka and akiriyadiṭṭhi,³ while in the Aṅguttara (I, p. 287) it is said to be a doctrine which denies kamma (deed), kiriya (action) and viriya (energy).