Fatalists and materialists Here is an excerpt from the sutta Pitaka , describing a conversation between king Ajatasattu, the ruler of Magadha , and the Buddha: On one occasion King Ajatasattu visited the Buddha and described what another teacher named Makkhali Gosala, had told him: "Thought the wise should hope, by this virtue... by this penance I will gain karma .....and the fool should by the same means hope to gradually rid himself of his karma,neither of them can do it , Pleasure and pain , measured out as it were , cannot be altered in the course of samsara (transmigration)It can neither be lessened or increased ...........just as a ball of string will when thrown unwind to its full length , so fool and wise alike will take their course and make an end of sorrow. '' And this is what a philosopher named Ajita Kesakambalin taught : ''There is no such thing , O king , as alms or sacrifice, or offerings .........there is no such thing as this world or the next ..... A human being is made up of the four elements . When he dies the earthy in him returns to the earth , the fluid to water , the heat to fire , the windy to air , and his senses pass into space...... The talk of gifts is a doctrine of fools , an empty lie........ fools and wise alike are cut off and perish . They do not survive after death. '' The first teacher belonged to the tradition of the Ajivikas. They have often been described as fatalists : those who believe that everything is predetermined . The second teacher belonged to the tradition of the Lokayatas, usually described as materialists . Texts from thesetraditions have not survived , so we know about them only from the works of other traditions. Distinguish in brief between fatalists and materialists .