| abstract | - There is not a great deal known about Ajatashatru. What is known is that he became a King of Magadha and the adjoining areas by murdering his father, Seniya/Bimbisara. Also, he was a contemporary of Buddha, was a patron of the then-new religion of Buddhism, and he let the Sangha function in his Kingdom. Some details of his life are given in the earliest Buddhist scriptures of the Pali Canon. In the Samaññaphala Sutta, Gautama Buddha said that if Ajatasattu hadn't killed his father, he would have attained sotapannahood, a degree of enlightenment. But because he had killed his father he could not attain it. This is also recorded in the Buddhist scripture, the Contemplation Sutra.
|
