Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c11.7.3

v1.c11.7.3

On the following morning donning on his yellow robe and taking his bowl, he entered Rājagṛha by the Tapoda gate for begging alms. Here at his residence on the Pāṇḍava hill, he was met by his old friend king Bimbisāra, who in age was senior to Gautama by five years.⁴ Politely rejecting the offer of Bimbisāra of sharing his kingdom with him, the ascetic Gautama paid a visit to the Rudraka Rāmaputra’s hermitage in the outskirts of Rājagṛha.¹ On enquiry he learnt that Rudraka could rise to the eighth samāpatti, *Naivasamjñānāsamjñāyatana*, the one higher than that reached by Arāḍa Kālāma, but it was still an attainment confined to the constituted world² (*arūpa*) and not transcendental (*lokottara*) leading to peace and rest, the end of misery, the ultimate Nirvāṇa. Impressed by his extraordinary ability in attaining the *Naivasamjñānāsamjñāyatana* stage within a comparatively short time and little exertion, five Brāhmaṇa followers of Rudraka preferred to follow Gautama. With them he went to Gayā and stopped at the Gayāśīrṣa hill.³ While dwelling here it struck him that as with two pieces of wet wood one cannot produce fire however briskly he may rub them, so also with mind saturated with *kāma* (desires) one cannot realize the highest truth however severe he may be in self-mortifications.⁴ On self-examination he found that his mind was free from *kāma*.