Of the teachers who competed with the Buddha for followers; who differed with the Buddha on certain important religious topics, there was Makkhali Gosala, Purana Kassapa, Ajita Kesakambali, Pakudha Kaccayana, Sanjaya Belatthiputta, and Negantha Nataputta.
I have made a list of some of the tenets of these teachers which are not out of our modern ballpark of ideas; which are held by a majority of people.
● There is no merit or demerit. It doesn't matter if the person destroys life or reduces all of life on earth to a single heap of flesh, there is ultimately no sin.
● There is not after-life.
● No one has reached perfection or has experienced the world beyond.
● No one survives death.
● The primary elements of which we are made cannot be destroyed. Besides these elements there is nothing.
● All things in samsara will eventually become purified.
● There is not such thing as karma.
● Nothing can be truly known.
Keep in mind that the Buddha never taught such tenets. Indeed, the Buddha taught, example, that one can reach perfection; moreover, there is, in fact, a world beyond.
“As there is indeed a world beyond, if anyone has the conception that there is not a world beyond, it is a false conception of his....As there is indeed a world beyond, if he convinces others that there is not a world beyond, that convincing of his is against true dhamma, and because of that convincing which is against true dhamma, he is exalting himself and disparaging others” (M. i. 402).
On the same track, the Buddha taught karma and rebirth which implies survival after death since he knew, firsthand, that mind (citta) is essentially unbodied (asharia) hence continuous and not therefore discrete and terminable.
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