Before the Enlightenment

The Buddha was not born a buddha ("awakened one"). There was a great deal of striving in past lives and again beginning at age 29.

Six years before attaining enlightenment (at 35) under a bodhi tree, Siddhartha Gautama ran away from home. He renounced his worldly riches, princely trappings he was now wearing like an albatross. He yearned for freedom, for deathlessness, for an end to suffering (dukkha or that profound sense of dissatisfaction).

• Brief life of the Buddha in pictures

This was not the first life he had done so, but it would be the last. He went as far as the river that marked the kingdom. And he crossed over, leaving everything behind until he could return from the archetypal Hero's Journey a victor. Now a sannyasin, he put on a simple robe and cut his hair.

Siddhartha was "bent-on-enlightenment" (bodhisatta). It was time to meditate, and he needed practical, real-world instruction. He sought out the guru and yogi Alara Kalama, attracted by his good reputation.

Yogic paths to liberation were practiced widely in India before the Buddha.

ALARA KALAMA
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In search of practical knowledge of leading a holy life, he made his way to the then famous ascetic Alara, who was no ordinary guru. Of the eight stages of meditation (jhana), Alara had personally mastered seven -- up to the jhana consciousness of dwelling on The Void (the Sphere of Boundless Nothingness, akincanna-yatana). This is what the teacher was teaching his pupils (chelas).

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Before Buddhism, such gurus served as trustworthy masters giving practical instructions on methods of making attainments. Alara was famous although Theravada literature is nearly silent about him. However in the Lalitavistra, a Mahayana biographical text, it is recorded that the great Alara had lived in the state of Vesali and that he had three hundred disciples.

INSTRUCTION
The Bodhisatta -- one day to become the Buddha -- describes how he took instructions from the sage Alara Kalama:

"Having gone forth and become a recluse in pursuit of what is good, seeking the supreme, incomparable peace of nirvana, I drew to where Alara Kalama was and addressed him thus: 'Friend Kalama, I desire to lead the holy life under your doctrine and discipline.' When I addressed him, Alara replied, 'The venerable friend Gautama is welcome to remain in this teaching. Of such a nature is this dharma that in a short time an intelligent man can realize for himself and abide in possession of what his teacher has realized as his own.'"

REASSURANCE
Alara's statement that his dharma, if practiced as it was taught, could be realized soon by oneself as one's own [which means that one could make the same attainment as the teacher] was very reassuring, and it inspired confidence. A doctrine is trustworthy and pragmatic only if it can be realized by oneself. And the sooner the realization is possible, the more heartening it will be. The Bodhisatta was therefore satisfied with Alara's words and this thought arose in him:

"It is not because of mere faith that Alara declares that he has learned the dharma [truth]. Alara has surely realized the dharma for himself; he knows and understands it."

Alara, after all, did not cite any texts [such as the Vedas, which were the basis of the religious establishment at the time] as his authority. He did not say that he had heard it from others. He clearly stated that what he knew personally he had realized himself.

Without having practiced the dharma personally, without having experienced and realized it in a personal way, to claim to be a "meditation teacher" or to preach and write books about it is improper. It would be like a physician prescribing medicine not yet clinically tested and tried by him, and which he had not dared to administer to himself. Such preaching or publishing is undependable and uninspiring.

But Alara boldly claimed personal experience in meditation. The Bodhisatta was impressed, and this thought arose:

"Not only Alara has faith, I also have faith. Not only Alara has energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom, I also have them."

NOTHINGNESS
Then he strived for the realization of that truth which Alara declared that he himself had realized. In no long time, the Bodhisatta knew the dharma, which led him as far as the jhanic Realm of Nothingness [see WQ's "31 Planes of Existence."]

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The Void may be undifferentiated potential (no thing) rather than oblivion.

He then approached Alara Kalama and enquired whether the Realm of Nothingness, which Alara claimed to have realized and lived in possession of, was the same as what the Bodhisatta had reached. Alara replied, "This is as far as the dharma leads, of which I have declared that I have realized and abide in possession of, the same stage as friend Gautama has reached."

Then he utter these words of praise: "Friend Gautama is a supremely distinguished person! The Realm of Nothingness is not easy to attain, yet Friend Gautama has realized it in no time. It is truly wonderful! Fortunate are we that we should light upon such a distinguished ascetic companion as your Reverence. As I have realized the dharma, so have you realized it as well. As you have learned it, so have I learned to the same extent as you. Friend Gautama is my equal in dharma. We have a large community here. Come, friend, together let us lead this company of disciples."

Thus Alara, the teacher, set up the Bodhisatta, the pupil, as an equal. He honored him by delegating to him the task of guiding 150 pupils, half of all his disciples. But the Bodhisatta only stayed at the center for a short time because while staying there this thought came to him:

DISSATISFACTION

"This doctrine does not lead to aversion, to abatement, and cessation of passion [lust, hate, delusion], to peace, higher knowledge and full enlightenment nor to the end-of-suffering (nirvana), but only as far as the attainment of the Realm of Nothingness. That attainment will result in rebirth there for an average lifespan there of 60,000 world-cycles [maha-kalpas]. And after expiring, one reappears according to one's karma just like before, suffering again. This is not the dharma of deathlessness that I am in search of."

Then becoming indifferent to the practice of this meditation (jhana), the Bodhisatta abandoned it and departed from Alara's meditation center.

He sought out another guru, Udaka Ramaputra, and entrusted himself to him. He learned his dharma, which led to a higher realm of existence, a rarefied state known as Neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

The Nigantha Nattaputta (Mahavira) searched for enlightenment among Indian gurus and dharmas. And like the Buddha, he founded a religion (Jainism). But unlike the Buddhism, Jains and yogis teach that liberation comes through asceticism.

UDAKA RAMAPUTTA
After leaving Alara, the Bodhisatta was on his own for some time, pursuing the path of tranquility to reach the undying state of nirvana. Then the fame of Udaka Ramaputta ("disciple of the sage Rama") reached him. He went to Udaka and sought to lead the religious life under the dharma and discipline under him. (The Lalitavistra records that Udaka had a meditation center in Rajagaha and a following of 700).

The Buddha later described his experiences under the guidance of Udaka -- how Udaka had explained the dharma, how he had been impressed with the discipline and practiced it, how he had realized the dharma and recounted to Udaka his mastery of it -- in almost exactly the same way as he described his experience with Alara Kalama.

Notably, when he met the Bodhisatta, Udaka had not yet attained the meditative heights he preached. He explained only what stage his teacher, Rama, had achieved. So when the Bodhisatta attained it, leadership of the following was handed over to him. (According to the Sub-commentary, Udaka later emulated the Bodhisatta and made the attainment). It soon occurred to the Bodhisatta that, "This dharma does not lead to aversion, to the abolishing of passion nor to higher knowledge, supreme wisdom, and the end-of-suffering (nirvana). It only leads to rebirth in the Realm of Neither-Perception-nor-Non-perception (Neva-sanna-nasanna-yatana). Once there, the average liifespan is 84,000 world-cycles. Then one will die and come back again, according to one's karma, to enjoy sensual pleasures and experience much suffering. This is not the doctrine of the Deathless that I long for."

Modern austerities (Sanskrit, tapas) continue today in India.

SELF-MORTIFICATION
Siddhartha the Bodhisatta then took up severe asceticism before discovering that the path of self-torment was not the way to attain enlightenment either.