Bahiya and Konḍañña: Paths to Enlightenment : หน้า 190/263

With those words alone, Bahiya was able to become an arahat. However, there are those, both in Thailand and abroad who look at examples such as that of Bahiya and come to the conclusion that you don't need to meditate in order to attain enlightenment. Therefore, for the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta, it is necessary to give a few words of explanation about the meditational backgrounds of the 'group of five'. If you look into the history of Konḍañña, you find that he has an extraordinary history. Even in this final lifetime of his, when he was a young man, he had completed his studies of all eighteen academic schools. According to the commentary Pathamasambodhidgathā he was the leader of Kapilavastu's envoy to Devadaha to ask the hand of Queen Mahā MaYā for marriage to King Suddhodana. After the birth of Prince Siddhattha, Konḍañña was the amongst the soothsayers selected to deliberate the vital signs of the newborn prince — and amongst the soothsayers he was the most precise, giving one possibility alone for the vocation of the prince, whereas all the other soothsayers gave two possibilities. According to Konḍañña, there was no way the prince could follow the vocation of a Universal Monarch — the only possibility for him was to become the world spiritual leader. After having seen the vital signs of Prince Siddhattha, from that day forth Konḍañña was to prepare himself spiritually, awaiting the day when the prince would renounce his worldly life. When at the age of twenty-nine, Prince Siddhattha renounced the palace, Konḍañña was the first to ordain in his footsteps. Thus, Konḍañña had at least twenty-nine years of experience in spiritual and academic study under his belt by the time he renounced the world in