Ājīvaka

views updated

Ājīvaka (Skt., ‘one who practises a way’ (?)). A heterodox sect founded by Makkhali Gosala, a contemporary and opponent of the Buddha. According to Buddhist sources, Makkhali was a determinist who compared the course of a man's life to a ball of string which, when thrown down, rolls along unwinding in a preordained course until it reaches its end.