Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2019
This article examines Buddhist and Jaina attitudes towards the salvation of the Magadhan king Ajātaśatru (alias Kūṇika), a narrative character found in both Buddhist and Jaina traditions. A number of Buddhist texts prophesy that Ajātaśatru, despite his next birth in hell, will attain liberation in his final birth. Jaina sources also speak of Kūṇika's descent into hell, but give no prophecy of his ultimate liberation. While the Buddhists offered various solutions to Ajātaśatru's sinful condition, the Jainas proposed no remedy to mitigate the consequences of Kūṇika's sins. The Buddhist prophecies of Ajātaśatru's eventual liberation indicate that some Buddhists in ancient India were particularly concerned with the salvation of an archetypal villain such as Ajātaśatru. The Jaina silence on Kūṇika's destiny suggests that the Jainas in general had little interest in bringing this violent figure to liberation, and deemed him incapable of overcoming his “false view of reality” (mithyātva) due to his strong passions.
An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the 19th Jaina Studies Workshop on “Jainism and Buddhism” held at SOAS, University of London on 18 March 2017. I thank the workshop organizer, Peter Flügel, for his kind encouragement. I am also grateful to Paul Dundas, Vincent Tournier, Claire Maes, Yutaka Kawasaki, and Kristen de Joseph for their invaluable comments and suggestions, and to three anonymous reviewers for their constructive remarks. Any remaining errors are my own alone.
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