Āḷāra Kālāma
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Alara Kalama ( Pāḷi &
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
', was a hermit and a teacher of ancient meditation. He was a teacher of Śramaṇa thought and, according to the
Pāli Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During ...
scriptures, the first teacher of
Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
.


History

After Siddhartha Gautama became an ascetic, he went to Alara Kalama, who was a teacher that taught a kind of early meditation at Vessali. Alara taught Siddhartha
meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...
, especially a dhyānic state called the "sphere of nothingness" ('). Gautama eventually equalled Alara, who could not teach him more, saying, "You are the same as I am now. There is no difference between us. Stay here and take my place and teach my students with me." Gautama was not interested in staying. After leaving, the Siddhartha found a new teacher, Uddaka Rāmaputta.


References


Bibliography

* {{refend Early Buddhism Ancient Indian philosophers Ascetics Indian yoga teachers