This discourse is known in Pali manuscripts and commentaries either as “The Noble Quest” or “The Pile of Snares”, whereas the Chinese parallel at MA 204 is titled “The Discourse at Rāma’s Hermitage”. It is one of several discourses in the Majjhima that include a partial account of Siddhattha’s practice before awakening, an account that became one of the key events in the Buddha’s biography. This particular version focuses on his experience with Brahmanical teachers, while MN 36, MN 85, and MN 100 include a long passage detailing his Jain-like fervent austerities.

Why was the Buddha reluctant to teach? This is puzzling because where we find this trope elsewhere there is a clear reason: at AN 7.52:1.3 the Buddha was making one of his rare visits to Campā, while at SN 22.81:3.5 he had left the squabbling Sangha for the seclusion of the forest. Here, in the central teaching location of Sāvatthī, there is no such reason. Rather, the events are best understood as narrative foreshadowing. His reluctance requires an intervention by others, and when the teaching finally takes place it is not in a Buddhist monastery but on Brahmanical grounds. The story goes on to tell how, after his awakening, he was reluctant to teach until the intervention of Brahmā (MN 26:19.1). This narrative mirroring creates a hidden link (sandhi) that frames the awakening in a Brahmanical context. The very obscurity of the connection is the point, for “the gods love hidden things”. The theme of reluctance is extended further to the reluctance of the five mendicants to receive the Buddha. It draws on the precedent of Yājñavalkya’s reluctance to teach Janaka (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3.1).

Rammaka appears only here, and the commentary offers no information. His name presumably signifies that he was a follower of the teacher Rāma who appears below. This complements AN 3.126:3.3, where the Buddha stays in the hermitage of Bharaṇḍu the Kālāma, who was apparently a student of Āḷāra Kālāma.

The narrative sequence from the Buddha returning from alms round to coming out from his bath is also found at AN 6.43:1.3. There, there is a clear justification for the story, as the discourse concerns a royal elephant parade seen after bathing. Here, once more, the purpose is implicit: a brahmanical student must bathe before any ritual.

After the Jetavana, this was the best-known monastery in Sāvatthī. It was offered by the lady Visākhā, known as Migāra’s mother.

Here (and at MN 92:4.1) a “hermitage” (assama, “ashram”) is a sizable building suitable for gatherings, whereas at SN 11.9:1.4 it is a gated compound with leaf huts. It is normally used for Brahmanical places.

As at AN 9.4:1.4.

“Noble silence” is narrowly defined as the second absorption (SN 21.1).

The Buddha picks up from the fact that the mendicants were talking about him, but continues in a depersonalized manner. | The substance of this passage is taught more briefly at AN 4.255.

These opposing quests (or “searches”, pariyesanā) respond to Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.22, which we have already noted as a source for the phrase so attā so loko (MN 22:15.10). It says that the wise ones of old, renouncing the search for sons, for wealth, and for the heavenly worlds, lived the mendicant’s life (putraiṣaṇāyāśca vittaiṣaṇāyāśca lokaiṣaṇāyāśca vyutthāyātha bhikśācaryaṁ caranti). The inner self sought by the brahmins is described as unborn, made of consciousness, undecaying, unattached, and unaffected by karma; knowing it one becomes a sage. See too BU 3.5.1.

The Pali includes “gold and money” among those things subject to birth, old age, and defilement. The Chinese parallel MA 204 (T i 776a7; cf. T 765 at T xvii 679b23) does not mention “birth” but says money and jewelry are subject to old age, defilement, etc. Elsewhere in the suttas, rebirth, old age, and defilement are qualities of sentient beings, not inanimate objects, so this might be a textual corruption. Nonetheless, the commentary offers explanations for why gold and money are included under these specific categories and not the rest, and this, together with the Chinese text, shows that if it is a corruption it is an old one. I give the commentarial explanations.

Gold and money are subject to “birth” because they are produced by heat (utusamuṭṭhāna). | The word for “gold” here, one of several in Pali, is jātarūpa, literally “born form”, i.e. that which is naturally beautiful. In Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 6.4.25, a newborn infant is to be fed mixed curd, honey, and ghee with a piece of jātarūpa, thus placing “golden” Vedic speech in him. This rare early instance of jātarūpa shows that it had a felt connection with the idea of birth. Perhaps this connection prompted its inclusion here. From that, “money” (rajata) was brought in as the two form a stock phrase, and they were then applied elsewhere in the list.

Gold and money grow old due to rust or grime.

Gold and money are liable to corruption by iron, etc.

As pointed out by K.R. Norman in his Mistaken Ideas About Nibbāna (1994), the epithets ajātaṁ (etc.) don’t mean that Nibbāna is “unborn”, but rather that in Nibbāna there is no rebirth. Likewise, amata does not mean “immortal” or “deathless” but “freedom from death”.

This contrasts with the legend that he slipped away in the dead of night.

“To discover what is skillful” (kiṅkusalagavesī) might also be translated, “seeking to answer the question, ‘what is good?’.” At this point he did not know the path so he sought an answer from the best teachers of his day. | At MN 102:25.1, the “supreme state of sublime peace” (santivarapada) is said to be “liberation without grasping” (anupādāvimokkha). | Āḷāra Kālāma was a senior teacher in the contemplative and renunciate tradition of the Upaniṣads. His meditative prowess is praised by his student Pukkusa the Mallian at DN 16:4.26.1, but is seen to be inferior to the Buddha’s. At AN 3.126:6.2 an apparent former student of Āḷāra advocates that teachers who teach full understanding of different things are nonetheless leading to the same goal. Thus, in line with Upaniṣadic philosophy, Āḷāra saw the apparent diversity of phenomena as partial manifestations of the immanent cosmic divinity. Āḷāra is usually understood to be named after his people, the Kālāmas. But it is possible we should accept the variant Kālāpa, indicating that he follows the Black Yajurveda.

Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 11.5.4.1 sets out the initiation (upanayana) into “spiritual life” (brahmacarya) according to Yājñavalkya. The student says, “I have come for brahmacarya” or “Let me be a brahmacāri”. The teacher responds by asking, “What is your name” (ko nāmāsīti). The same phrase is used in the Buddhist ordination procedure (kiṁnāmosi, Kd 1:76.1.15). But whereas in Buddhism this is merely a personal identification, for the brahmins this naming signifies a mystical identity with the creator Prajāpati, who is ka.

Āḷāra Kālāma calls his student āyasmā (Sanskrit āyuṣmant), an honorific that in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa is reserved for the god Agni (13.8.4.8–9). By this he indicates the student’s divine status. | Compare with the first phrase used by the Buddha to ordain his students, “Come, mendicant” (ehi bhikkhu, Kd 1:6.32.3).

“Their own tradition” (sakaṁ ācariyakaṁ), literally “what belongs to their own teacher” (ācariya, Sanskrit ācarya). In the Brahmanical initiation, having accepted the student, the brahmin takes him by the hand and says, “Agni is your teacher, I am your teacher” (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 11.5.4.2). This claims both the universal authority of the divine lineage as well as the personal lineage of that teacher. | “Their own insight” (sayaṁ abhiññā); Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa repeatedly emphasizes that the benefits of initiation are for “one who knows this” (ya evaṁ veda, 11.5.4.2, etc.).

The text does not specify the scripture that he learned, but it must have been Brahmanical, for they were the only scriptures known. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 11.5.4.13 instructs the new student to first learn the Sāvitrī, specifying the version in Gāyatrī metre (see also Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 5.14). The Buddha refers to this as the foremost verse (MN 92:26.2), and he even specifies the Gāyatrī version (Snp 3.4:7.3). Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 11.5.7 goes on to encourage the student in daily recitation of the four Vedas and ancillary literature.

“I spoke the doctrine of knowledge, the elder doctrine” (ñāṇavādañca vadāmi theravādañca). Taken together, the sense is that his personal understanding agreed with tradition. A less literal translation might be, “I spoke with knowledge and authority.” | For ñāṇavāda, compare such passages as Snp 4.3:2.4, “as you know, so you speak” (yathā hi jāneyya tathā vadeyya). In the Brāhmaṇas and Upaniṣads, knowledge refers to the hidden connections between the Vedas and the world which reveal the divinity immanent in all things. | Thera (Sanskrit sthavira) has the senses “steady, strong” (so commentary’s thirabhāva) as well as “elder”, for which see Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa 26.2.5, where Jātūkarṇya, a teacher of old, is called sthavira. I take it to mean the “lasting doctrine of the ancients”. This is the oldest use of the word theravāda, long before it was applied to a Buddhist school.

“Faith” (or “trust”, saddhā, Sanskrit śraddhā) was regarded as a quality of the “heart” through which one gained remuneration in the form of fees for priestly services (Rig Veda 10.151.4, Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.9.21). It is like the “trust” that one would place in a bank: an investment is made in expectation of a reward. | For the syntax here, compare with kevalaṁ vassagaṇanamattena at AN 7.43:5.6.

This is said to be the best of the four perceptions at (AN 10.29:18.1). Buddhist texts portray this as a favorite meditation among brahmin contemplatives (eg. Snp 5.15:2.1, Snp 5.7:2.1). While one might expect that the brahmins would identify their goal in a positive sense, this is not always the case. A text of the Black Yajurveda, Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.11, says that beyond the great Soul, beyond the unmanifest, beyond the Person, is nothing: and that is the ultimate goal (puruśān na paraṃ kiṃcit). See too Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.12.1, which illustrate how divinity is too subtle for normal perception. The teacher, breaking the kernel of a seed, asked the student, ““What do you see there?’ ‘Nothing’” (kimatra paśyasīti, na kiṁcana). Compare the description of this state at Snp 5.15:2.4, “one sees nothing at all” (natthi kiñcīti passato). This is also similar to the teaching of Uddaka (MN 26:16.1).

The Buddha called these the five “faculties” (SN 48.10) or “powers” (AN 5.14). All except “immersion” (samādhi) are frequently mentioned in pre-Buddhist texts, but not as a set of five. The five are, however, found some centuries after the Buddha in Pātañjali’s Yogasūtra 1.20: “For others, faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom come first.” (śraddhāvīryasmṛtisamādhiprajñāpūrvaka itareṣām).

The mention of “immersion” implies the prior development of the four absorptions. The formless attainments are “progressive meditations” (AN 9.32) achieved by a process of “progressive cessation” (AN 9.31). Though formless, they are dependent on form (SN 14.11:3.3).

This phrasing echoes part of the description of arahantship (MN 85:51.12).

Having achieved that state, Āḷāra Kālāma “declares” (pavedeti) it as the teacher, while the Bodhisatta “dwells” in it (viharati).

Almost exactly the same words were spoken by Pokkharasāti to his student Ambaṭṭha (DN 3:1.3.2). This connects Pokkharasāti with Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta, suggesting that the uplifting of a talented student in this way was a regular practice of wise brahmins.

This invitation shows his grace and humility.

It does not fulfill the requirements of the “noble quest”. | Compare the pre-Buddhist meditation practice of Govinda (DN 19:50.9), Mātaṅga (Snp 1.7:27.6), and Maghadeva (MN 83:21.7), which in all cases “leads to rebirth in the Brahmā realm” (brahmalokūpapattiyā). Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.16, concluding the ancient portion of this text, says that the wise man attains glory in the world of divinity (medhāvī brahmaloke mahīyate).

Uddaka’s teachings are cited at SN 35.103:1.1 and DN 29:16.13. In the former, his obscure verse assumes the identity of “this” (the impersonal cosmic divinity) with himself, while the latter is a distorted reference to Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.4.7. Further, AN 10.29:20.1 implies that he taught the “ultimate purity of the spirit”. While “spirit” (yakkha, Sanskrit yakṣa) is normally a worldly deity, it is identified with the ultimate Brahman at Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 5.4.1 and Kena Upaniṣad 4.1. Uddaka is apparently the “ascetic Rāmaputta” who was revered by the king, criticized by some brahmins, but defended by Todeyya, a leading brahmin of Kosala often mentioned along with Pokkharasāti (AN 4.187:4.2).

In contrast with Āḷāra Kālāma, here the name is omitted.

The text shifts from Rāmaputta to just Rāma, while at the same time shifting to the past tense. Uddaka was thus the (spiritual and/or biological) “son of Rāma”. This detail is preserved reliably in the different versions of the text. It seems that Rāmaputta had not personally attained the meditation he was teaching. This would also explain why, just a little below, he invites the Bodhisatta to lead the community rather than to share leadership like Āḷāra Kālāma (MN 36:16.32). SN 35.103:1.6 shows that he did, however, make claims to being spiritually attained.

In Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4.12 and 4.5.13, the sage Yājñavalkya says that the true Self is a sheer mass of “consciousness” (vijñāna, Pali viññāṇa), which is “great, endless, infinite reality”. After realizing this, he says, there is no “perception” (saṁjñā, Pali saññā). This passage seems to have sparked the conversation at DN 9:6.4, where the Buddha goes on to speak of meditative training to refine perception. Notably, there he mentions all the jhānas and formless attainments except the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, which is beyond the topic of perception under discussion. This meditative state may be related to the state with “no perception” spoken of by Yājñavalkya. However, it is not possible to literally identify such subtle meditative states on such slender evidence. The point is simply that the contemplative brahmins of the Upaniṣadic tradition of Yājñavalkya did indeed describe their highest state in terms of perception.

An ācariya is special teacher who has a close, ongoing relationship with a student, signified by the fact that the student of an ācāriya is called an antevāsī, literally “one who lives within” the teacher’s home. This passage confirms that this usage carries over from the Brahmanical tradition, where it is a common term in the same sense. Thus Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.1.2 speaks of “mother, father, and teacher”, while Chāndogya Upaniṣad 2.23.1 enjoins a student to “live with the teacher until death”, and at 4.9.1 ff. we see the journey of a student to their teacher’s house, where he is looked after by the teacher and his wife. The same sense prevails throughout the suttas and Vinaya, so I translate as “tutor” to identify a close personal teacher.

In modern times this is the pilgrimage site Bodhgaya in the Gaya district of Bihar. It lies by a wide river that is dry in summer but abundant in the rains. Today it is named Līlajan and in Pali Nerañjarā, although that name is not mentioned in this passage. Uruvelā, which aptly means “Broadbanks”, was a locality centered around the market town of Senānigama (“Marshalltown”). There was also a sizable hermitage nearby with matted-hair Brahmanical ascetics (jaṭilā) who ritually bathed in the water (Kd 1:20.15.1). After teaching the five monks in Varanasi, the Buddha returned here to teach them, but there is no record of him visiting subsequently.

The Buddha’s rejection of sensual pleasures does not preclude his appreciation of nature’s beauty. | The local alms villages in Uruvelā are named in Mahāvastu 2.207 as Praskandaka, Balākalpa, Ujjaṁgala, and Jaṁgala.

Padhāna means to “strive”. It is frequently used in the sense of applying oneself to meditation, but here it leads into the painful “striving” of fervent austerity (MN 36:20.7).

While this skips directly from his arrival in Uruvelā to his awakening, other texts describe his practice of fervent austerities here, which must have taken a considerable time (MN 36:16.7, MN 85:15.1). See note on MN 26:18.1.

This is the realization of arahantship. Elsewhere the Buddha goes into more detail as to the process of meditation that led to this point.

A similar account is told of Gotama Buddha at SN 6.1:1.4, MN 85:43.2, and Kd 1:5.2.2, and of Vipassī at DN 14:3.1.4.

The Buddha identifies the two most difficult topics in his philosophy: dependent origination and Nibbana.

Up to this point, the Bodhisatta has been solely concerned with finding the answer to his quest, and only now does he think of sharing it with others. The idea that he had made an aspiration for Buddhahood in the long ago past out of a desire to help all sentient beings is not supported in early texts.

Had he followed this inclination he would have been a paccekabuddha, a Buddha “awakened for himself”.

While Sahampati features prominently in the suttas, no deity of that name is found in early Brahmanical texts. He seems, however, to be the Buddhist version of Brahmā Svayambhū, the “Self-born Divinity”, to whom Yājñavalkya traces the authority of his teaching lineage (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.6.3, 4.5.3, 6.5.4). Yājñavalkya identifies this “self-born” with the sun (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 1.9.3.16; see also Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā 4.6.6) and with Prajāpati (13.5.3.1). Explaining the origin of the soma rite of the “All-Sacrifice”, he says that Brahmā Svayambhū, while performing fervent austerities, decided to offer his self to all creatures and all creatures to his self, thus establishing lordship (adhipatya) over all creatures (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 13.7.1.1). The root pati (“lord”) here establishes a linguistic link with sahampati. Further, in the earliest use of svayambhū at Rig Veda 10.83.4, the “self-born” deity Manyu “prevails” (sahuriḥ sahāvān) in battle. Thus we can identify Sahampati, the “Lord Who Prevails”, with the highest divinity recognized by Yājñavalkya, who originated as victor in battle, whose physical manifestation is the sun, whose spiritual function is to imbue all creatures with divinity, and who serves as the ultimate source of authority. Meanwhile, the epithet sayambhū was taken for the Buddha (Kd 11:35.1.37).

Having surpassed the greatest of the Brahmanical contemplatives, the Buddha’s achievement is recognized by the chief Brahmanical divinity.

Sahampati is the one who recognizes the potential in all beings, since it was he who imbued them with divinity. He did this to ensure dominance, but now his motive has transformed into compassion.

The “impure teaching” was, according to the commentary, that of the six ascetic teachers, who are regularly associated with Magadha (eg. SN 2.30, Snp 3.6, DN 2). Less likely it refers to Brahmanical teachers like Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta, who are more closely associated with Kosala and whose system is regarded as passed down rather than “thought up”.

“Freedom from death” (amata, Sanskrit amṛta) is yet another Brahmanical term transformed by the Buddha. Its Vedic meaning was “immortality”, and hence the “ambrosia” of soma through which immortality was gained. For the Buddha, as seen in the “noble quest” itself, it was the freedom from the cycles of birth, aging, and death.

Here we see a verbal echo of Sahampati’s martial origins.

A “caravan leader” (satthavāha) guides their flock through treacherous deserts and wastelands, as illustrated at DN 23:23.3. | Anaṇa (“debtless”) is a technical term in the Vedic system. According to Manu 6.35–7, a renunciate must first pay off three debts: study of Vedas, begetting a son, and offering of sacrifices. One who goes forth with these debts unpaid is headed for a downfall. The Buddha has indeed paid off all these debts: he studied the Vedas under his former teachers (MN 26:15.6); he has a son Rāhula; and his path is regarded as the highest form of sacrifice (DN 5:24.1). But in Buddhism the concept is reinterpreted as meaning one has let go of all defilements, becoming a “perfected”, literally “worthy” one, after which one can eat almsfood free of debt (MN 124:38.1, SN 16.11:13.2).

Here we see the sense of indriya as “spiritual potential”. Originally it was the state of excited energy produced by soma that allowed Indra to manifest his full power and overcome his foes. It implicitly links back to the five spiritual qualities that the Buddha attributed to his teachers, which he later formalized as “faculties”. Here as there, the idea creates a connection between beings, a recognition of shared qualities that, when properly nurtured, can mature into awakening.

Pamuñcantu saddhaṁ has long troubled translators, as the basic sense of pamuñcantu is “release”. Sanskrit variants include pramodantu (“celebrate”) or praṇudantu kāṅkṣāḥ (“dispel doubts”). I think it is a poetic variant of adhimuñcantu, to “decide” or “commit” to faith. Pali commonly uses synonymous verbs to reinforce the sense of the noun. In Snp 5.19, muttasaddho, pamuñcassu saddhaṁ, and adhimuttacittaṁ are all used in this sense.

While this passage is clearly heightened for dramatic effect, it is not surprising that they have passed away. It has been several years since he studied with these teachers, and they were probably elderly at the time, as perhaps hinted in their eagerness to appoint Siddhattha as heirs.

The five mendicants appear abruptly here and the reason for their behavior is only clear in light of the fuller accounts (MN 36:33.4, MN 85:33.4, MN 100:30.5). The Buddha’s praise for them is more muted than for the Brahmanical teachers, showing how he valued advanced meditation over austerities. Their names are listed in the Vinaya account: Koṇḍañña, Vappa, Bhaddiya, Mahānāma, and Assaji (Kd 1:6.31.6). | Note that he calls them “mendicants”, a term typically reserved for Buddhist renunciates. For a similar usage, see MN 140:3.4.

Several suttas relate further details in this period (eg. SN 47.43, Ud 1.3–4, etc.)

For the Ājīvakas, see MN 5:31.7 and DN 2:20.2. Upaka is met only here; his name means “nearly there”. | The place of awakening is referred to as bodhi. These places are about twenty kilometers apart.

Here “faculties” refers to visible features such as bright eyes. Compare Chāndogya Upaniṣad 4.14.2, where a students face is seen as bright and glowing due to their recent insights.

Āhañchaṁ is first person future singular of āhanati, “one beats”.

“Infinite Victor” (anantajina) is unknown elsewhere and may be an Ājīvaka term. It relates to the epithet jina of the teacher Mahāvīra, after which his followers the Jains were named. Mahāvīra and the Ājīvaka founder Gosāla practiced together for six years, so it comes as no surprise that they shared terminology.

For “they stopped each other” (aññamaññaṁ saṇṭhapesuṁ), see AN 10.93:2.4.

These ways of address are suitable for a senior speaking to a junior (DN 16:6.2.2).

Where “that practice” appears in MN 12:56.1 and MN 85:51.7, it refers to the austere practices that have just been described. Taken together with the abrupt skip at MN 26:18.1 above, and the equally abrupt mention of the five mendicants at MN 26:24.5, it seems likely the passage on the austerities has been removed in order to focus on the Brahmanical context.

Here they adopt the more respectful term of address bhante (“sir”).

Again the narrative skips. Here the Buddha taught the “Rolling Forth of the Wheel of the Dhamma” (SN 56.11). The full sequence of events is related in Kd 1:6.16.9.

This occurred with the teaching of the “Discourse on the Characteristic of Not Self” (SN 22.59).

The Buddha rather abruptly returns to a direct teaching for the mendicants in Rammaka’s hermitage. The topic harks back to the simile of the sappy log, absent from here, but which in MN 36:17.1 is introduced as the Bodhisatta undertook striving at Uruvelā.

The Pali word paribhuñjati means “to have something satisfying” as well as “to take pleasure in”, much like the English word “enjoys”.

This image and the teaching that follows links this sutta with the previous.

This passage and the next affirm that these meditations, learned under Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta, were adopted by the Buddha as part of his practice.