http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions ... ient.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Epicurus
Epicurus put forward the theory of "materialism": The only things that exist are bodies and the space between them.
Epicurus taught that the soul is also made of material objects, and so when the body dies the soul dies with it. There is no afterlife.
Epicurus thought that gods might exist, but if they did, they did not have anything to do with human beings.
Religion was the human activity of trying to live in the way such noble (but unknowable) gods might live.
The soul cannot survive separation from the body, since it is necessary to understand that it too is a part.
By itself the soul cannot ever either exist (even though Plato and the Stoics talk a great deal of nonsense on the subject) or experience movement, just as the body does not possess sensation when the soul is released from it.
This is obviously simillar if not the same as Ajita Kesakambali's teachings
When i realised this it occured to me, the teachings of Lord Buddha really are unique in the world
Every other kind of religious/philosophical thought has been repeated by many other individuals/religions throughout history, even when there is seperation by time, place and culture the same teachings keep coming up in human thought accept for the teachings of Lord Buddha that hasnt been repeated by anyone else in the known history of man
Isnt that something special?