Hermitage

One day, the disciples of the Buddha, who had not heard a sermon directly from the mouth of the Blessed One for a long time, asked Ananda, the Buddha’s personal attendant, to arrange a meeting with the Teacher. Ananda invited them to wait for the Teacher in a hermitage built by the brahmin Rammaka.

After collecting almsfood and eating, the Buddha remained in meditation until evening, and then He and Ananda bathed in the river. After bathing, Ananda addressed the Teacher with a request: “It would be good to visit Rammaka’s delightful and pleasant hermitage and to show compassion for those gathered there”. The Buddha silently agreed.

Approaching the hermitage, the Buddha waited for the voices inside to go quiet, and, clearing his throat, knocked. The door was opened, and he sat down on the seat offered to him. “What conversation have I interrupted?” — the Buddha asked. “The conversation was about the Blessed One himself”, His disciples replied. “Good, hermits. After all, you have left the worldly life to understand the Dhamma. When you gather together, it is appropriate for you to either converse about the Dhamma or observe noble silence.”

The two types of Search

There are two types of search: noble and ignoble. The ignoble search — is when one who is born seeks what is born, one who is subject to suffering, old age, destruction and death seeks what is likewise subject to suffering, old age, destruction and death. Such a person, subject to sorrow and pollution, seeks what is likewise subject to sorrow and pollution. The respect of relatives, ownership of property — all of that is subject to sorrow, just as the one who tries to attain them.

The noble search consists in the fact that an individual who is subject to birth and death, sorrow and defilement of mental qualities seeks what is not subject to birth and death, sorrow and defilement of mental qualities. Such a person seeks nibbana, the extinction of suffering.

The story of the Buddha’s search

“Know, ascetics, that before I attained Awakening, I was occupied with ignoble search. However, I, being a dark-haired person endowed with the blessing of youth, thought about seeking protection from bondage in nibbana, the extinction of suffering and abandoned the ignoble search” — the Buddha said. “In search of the highest peace, I went to the ascetic Alara Kalama and joined his Sangha, studying his instructions about meditation and self-restraint. After a while, I attained everything which was said in words to perfection, but I thought that not only is it thanks to words and faith that Alara Kalama describes his state. After all, he directly enters it and remains in it. I asked the Teacher about this direct knowledge. In response, he told me about the realm of nothingness. Thanks to diligence, I too directly attained entry into this realm, and Alara Kalama was so delighted and pleased that he placed me as his equal, requesting to lead the Sangha together with him.

However, I was disappointed with this teaching, having learned it. I realized that one who attains this teaching does not attain complete dispassion and extinction of suffering. One does not attain nibbana, but is headed to rebirth in the realm of Nothing.

I headed to the ascetic Udaka Ramaputta and was welcomed into his Sangha. There I studied Rama’s teaching, learning to expound it perfectly. After this, I decided to directly attain what Rama attained. I asked Udaka Ramaputta about this attainment, and he told me that Rama directly knew the realm of no perception nor non-perception. Through dedication, I attained this realm and related my attainment to Udaka Ramaputta. He was delighted and gave me the great honour of requesting to lead the Sangha, assuming the position of a disciple with respect to me. He said: “You are Rama’s equal!”

However, I was disappointed with this teaching. I saw that it does not lead to complete dispassion and cessation of suffering, but only to rebirth in the realm of no-perception nor non-perception.

Continuing to remain in a noble quest for nibbana, I travelled and came one day to a wonderful place with a delightful grove, a clear river and convenient banks. I stayed there, deciding that this place was favourable for my endeavour. In this place, I attained Enlightenment, the perfect knowledge, liberation from bondage. I had a vision: “The defilements of the mind have been eradicated, there will be no re-birth”.

The Buddha’s decision to Preach the Teaching

At first, I thought that my Teaching was too subtle and deep for people. It is hard to conceive the Path to detachment that is beyond all conclusions. People seek pleasure, they cherish their attachment to what is pleasant. How will they attain the truth about the cessation of thirst? If I start preaching, my Teaching will not be understood, and that would be needless fatigue. Along with these thoughts, verse unheard of before came to me:

I should give up my inclination to teach
Beings lost in thirst and evil.
It is of no avail, alas, to direct them to the Path
Which I, the free one, found in myself.
Enshrouded in darkness, they burn in passion —
Far from them is the Path of subtle knowledge.
My eye is directed against the flow of the world,
Beings, however, see the essence in lies.
Thinking this way, I initially, inclined towards inaction.

However, the Brahma Sahampati, The Ruler of the Earth, embraced my mind with his mind and in the blink of an eye descended from the abodes of Brahma, appearing before me. He addressed me with other verse also previously unheard:

In the world of lies, weeds have grown
People grieve in sorrow…
You, a hero standing on the peak of the mountain,
Awaken your Divine eye!
There will be those who will understand your Path,
Will enter the Door of the Teaching.
Travel the world, free of entanglement,
Have faith of unsullied faith

Then, moved by compassion, I embraced the world with Awakened Sight. I saw beings who had little dust in the eyes and those whose eyes were covered in dust; their good and bad qualities; I saw those who are easy to teach and the unrestrainable. I saw that the difference in the growth of beings is like the difference between lotuses born in water and mud. There are lotuses that are always under water; there are those that reach the surface of the water; and there are those that, born in the mud, rise above the surface of the pond, untouched by water or by mud. After seeing this, I replied to Brahma Sahampati:

What lies beyond death is open to all.
May beings strengthen themselves with faith by entering my Path.

Upon hearing these words, the Brahma, satisfied, immediately disappeared. My first thought was about Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta. Their minds have been pure for some time, and they would have understood my Teaching. However, when I thought about them, I heard a divine voice which informed me that both Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputra have left the body. Upset by this loss, I thought: “Those five ascetics who served me at the time when I indulged in self-torture were very dilligent. I’ll teach them.” Seeing with the Divine Eye that they were in Varanasi, I went there.

The Meeting with Upaka

On the road, I was met by Upaka, a follower of a school which taught the absence of living beings. He, disgruntled with his knowledge, said to me: “Friend, your face is clear and pure. Effulgence emanates from you. Who is your Teacher?” To this question, I replied:

I overcame everything,
My thirst quenched.
Having realized myself,
I became a Teacher to all.
Now, in this lost world,
I am preparing to turn the Wheel of the Teaching.

When he heard these words, doubt arose in Upaka felt doubt in his heart and said: “So be it, friend”. Shaking his head, he left.

The Five Ascetics

At first, when the five ascetics saw me, they agreed not to address me other than as ‘friend’, not to serve me, since they renounced me, thinking that I left the spiritual endeavor and was living carelessly. However, when I approached, they lost their composure: one rose up to greet me, taking a bowl, another one prepared a seat; they also prepared water for me to wash my feet. Meanwhile, still, they addressed me as an equal — “friend”.

I reproached them and said that that is not how the Tathagata, the Awakened One, should be addressed. In response, the ascetics expressed their reproach: they thought that I left the spiritual path. However, telling of my Awakening, I managed to convince them to embark on the path of my Teaching. Receiving my instructions, they managed to attain, on their own experience, the truth and perfect knowledge. They, like myself, managed to attain it like one who is occupied with noble search manages to avoid the numerous snares woven from the five threads of sensual experience.

These five threads are as follows: forms, sounds, smells, tastes and bodily sensations. Those beings who are careless are caught up in these threads and are like reindeer entangled in snares. We can say about them: “They are in trouble. They are bonded”. Those beings who seek what is not subject to sorrow avoid this trouble. They are like a reindeer who freely lies on a pile of snares without being entangled in them.

Detached from the ignoble quest, the mind gains freedom and confidence. It remains in various states of concentration, finding satisfaction in them, not falling into the trap of attachment to sensual pleasure.

When they heard the sermon of the Teacher, the disciples, gathered in Rammaka's hermitage, experienced delight and were pleased.