The information I got about Ajatasatru and confession was found on Access to Insight, which is so large, I can’t find the source again. Try poking around there. To tell you the truth though, it’s quite likely I may have just misquoted.

You may be right in that Ajatasatru wasn’t really sorry for what he did, he just wanted relief from the guilt, but I like to think that in a future rebirth there’s hope for him yet, and I think the Buddha saw that and forgave him nevertheless. If the Buddha can predict full Buddha-hood for Devadatta in the Lotus Sutra, just about anything is possible.

Haven’t looked in for a while but I’ve just spent an enjoyable half hour scanning through your recent posts. Many cross-overs with my own interests. Funnily enough I’ve spent many hours recently researching Ajatasattu’s confession to the Buddha in the Sāmaññaphala Sutta. Do you have a reference for Aj apologising for colluding with Devadatta? I’d be very interested to read that.

In the SS he confesses to killing Bimbisara, despite having already inherited the Kingdom, a point you may have overlooked – Bimbisara abdicates in Aj’s favour and is still killed off! There are some tricky issues with what actually happens in the sutta and I am preparing an argument that the previous translators have misunderstood the scene – quite hubristic I suppose! But it has lead me to read all that I can on confession in early Buddhism. My impression is that Aj does not really experience remorse. I also argue that in the SS the Buddha can in no way be said to “forgive” Aj – the text does not say that, and it makes no sense in the context of early Buddhism. I hope to get this article published, but failing that I’ll put it on my own website.

Keep up the good work!
Best wishes
Jayarava