Maudgalyayana devoted all his time and energy to promoting the Buddha's teachings. As a result more people converted to Buddhism, which of course made followers of other religious extremely unhappy. One day, when he was traveling past the food of Mount Rsigiri in Magadha, a group of naked religious cultists saw him. They took the opportunity to push rocks from the top of the mountain, which killed him immediately. Maudgalyayana became the first disciple of the Buddha to sacrifice his life for the sake of promoting the Buddha's teachings. When King Ajatasatru heard about this, he was so angry that he ordered all those naked cult members to be seized and killed.

When the news reached the Buddha and the sangha, they were quite upset. Some of the monks asked the Buddha,"We all knew Maudgalyayana had great supernatural powers, why didn't he defend himself against these religious fanatics?"

The Buddha signed."Supernatural powers cannot be used to fight against karma. He could only delay the result of his karma, but he could not change it. Maudgalyayana was a fisherman in one of his past lives. Many fish died in his hands, and so he had to pay the price for slaughtering millions of lives. The body is impermanent, and to an enlightened person death is actually emancipation since it eradicates the possibility of creating any more bad karma. He was able to exchange his limited physical life to attain truth and enlightenment, so we should be happy for him."