k, Isipatana. So, after remaining awhile at Uruvela he
started to find them and on the way met a naked ascetic, in answer to
whose enquiries he proclaimed himself as the Buddha; "I am the Holy One
in this world, I am the highest teacher, I alone am the perfect supreme
Buddha, I have gained calm and nirvana, I go to Benares to set moving
the wheels of righteousness[325]. I will beat the drum of immortality in
the darkness of this world." But the ascetic replied. "It may be so,
friend," shook his head, took another road and went away, with the
honour of being the first sceptic.

When the Buddha reached the deer park[326], a wood where ascetics were
allowed to dwell and animals might not be killed, the five monks saw him
coming and determined not to salute him since he had given up his
exertions, and turned to a luxurious life. But as he drew near they were
overawed and in spite of their resolution advanced to meet him, and
brought water to wash his feet. While showing him this honour they
called him Friend Gotama but he replied that it was not proper to
address the Tathagata[327] thus. He had become a Buddha and was ready to
teach them the Truth but the monks demurred saying that if he had been
unable to win enlightenment while practising austerities, he was not
likely to have found it now that he was living a life of ease. But he
overcame their doubts and proceeded to instruct them, apparently during
some days, for we are told that they went out to beg alms.

Can this account be regarded as in any sense historical, as being not
perhaps the Buddha's own words but the reminiscences of some one who had
heard him describe the crisis of his life? Like so much of the Pitakas
the narrative has an air of patchwork. Many striking passages, such as
the descriptions of the raptures through which he passed, occur in other
connections but the formulae are ancient and their use here may be as
early and legitimate as elsewhere. In its main outlines the account is
simple, unpretentious and human. Gotama seeks to obtain enlightenment by
self-mortification: finds that this is the wrong way: tries a more
natural method and succeeds: debates whether he shall become a teacher
and at first hesitates. These are not features which the average Indian
hagiographer, anxious to prove his hero omnipotent and omniscient, would
invent or emphasize. Towards the end of the narrative the language is
more majestic and the compiler introduces several stanz