akriyāvāda

akriyāvāda, set of beliefs held by heretic teachers in India who were contemporaries of the Buddha. The doctrine was a kind of antinomianism that, by denying the orthodox karmic theory of the efficacy of former deeds on a person’s present and future condition, also denied the possibility of a person’s influencing his own destiny through preferring righteous to bad conduct. The doctrine’s teachers were therefore severely criticized for immorality by their religious opponents, including Buddhists. Their views are known only through uncomplimentary references in Buddhist and Jaina literature. Among the heretic teachers whose names are known are Pūraṇa Kāśyapa, a radical antinomian; Gośāla Maskarīputra, a fatalist; Ajita Keśakambalin, the earliest-known materialist in India; and Pakudha Kātyāyana, an atomist. Gośāla’s followers formed the Ājīvika sect, which enjoyed some acceptance during the Maurya period (3rd century bc) and then dwindled.