Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c11.7.2

v1.c11.7.2

Inspite of all the remonstrances and reasonings of his father's messengers, he refused to return to home life.² The tradition says that he took to this course when he was only twentynine, and for six years he roamed about, sitting at the feet of one teacher or another, and imbibing from them all that he could gather. It is said, that he left the palace at the dead of night, crossed the territories of the Śākyas, the Koliyas and the Mallas and reached the Anuvaineya town of the Maineyas at dawn.¹ He visited the hermitages of a Śākyan Brāhmaṇī, of a female ascetic Padmā also a Brāhmaṇī, of Brahmarṣi Raivata, and of Rājaka, son of Daṭṛma a daṇḍika.² Then he reached the city of Vaiśālī, in the suburb of which was situated the hermitage of Arāḍa Kālāma (= Pāli Ārāḍa Kālāma). He joined the band of disciples whose number was three hundred at the time and within a short time, by the application of his strong will (*chanda*), energy (*vīrya*), self-recollectedness (*smṛti*), meditation (*samādhi*) and intellection (*prajñā*), he attained the *ākiñcanyāyatana* stage, which, in the Buddhist books, is placed in the Arūpaloka and counted as the last but one (i.e. seventh) *samāpatti* leading to *Nirvāṇa*.³ In this stage also he was unable to visualize the Truth—the Reality, the end of misery. He then left Vaiśālī, came to Rājagṛha and stopped all alone at the Pāṇḍava hill.