一经讲述辩士萨遮迦向佛陀请教如何训练身心，佛陀因而详述自己成道前的求道历程——极端苦行、终悟枯槁之身无法证得真正安乐、五位苦行同伴因失望而离去，以及最终突破证得究竟解脱的经过。

A discourse in which the debater Saccaka questions the Buddha about training body and mind, prompting the Buddha to recount his own pre-Enlightenment quest — his extreme austerities, his eventual realization that a starved body cannot yield true bliss, the desertion of his five ascetic companions in disgust, and his final breakthrough to full liberation.