Dīrgha Āgama, Volume One: The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

(1) Original text:佛告比丘。太子见老病人。知世苦恼。又见死人。恋世情灭。及见沙门。廓然大悟。下宝车时。步步中间。转远缚着。是真出家。是真远离。时彼国人。闻太子剃除须发。法服持钵。出家修道。咸相谓言。此道必真。乃令太子。舍国荣位。捐弃所重。于时国中。八万四千人。往就太子。求为弟子。出家修道。佛时颂曰。撰择深妙法。彼闻随出家。离于恩爱狱。无有众结缚。 

Explanation: The Buddha told the bhikṣus: When I was the crown prince, upon going out and seeing the elderly and the sick, I knew that the world is full of suffering; upon seeing a dead person, my attachment to the world was extinguished; and later, upon seeing a śramaṇa who had left home, I suddenly and thoroughly awakened. When I stepped down from the precious carriage, with every step I took, my mind grew further and further away from the bonds and attachments of worldly afflictions. At that moment I truly left home, and truly departed from worldly afflictions. At that time, the people of the country heard that the crown prince had shaved off his hair and beard, put on the robes of one who has left home, taken up the alms bowl, and gone forth to cultivate the Path. They all said to one another: This Path must surely be genuine, for it made the crown prince abandon the glory and rank of kingship and cast off the heavy burden he bore. Thereupon, eighty-four thousand people in the country went to the crown prince, seeking to become his disciples and leave home to cultivate the Path. The Buddha then spoke a verse: Having chosen the profound and wondrous Dharma, upon hearing it they followed and left home; departing from the hell of worldly love and affection, they were no longer bound by the many knots of bondage. 

Original text:于时太子。即便纳受。与之游行。在在教化。从村至村。从国至国。所至之处。无不恭敬。四事供养。菩萨念言。吾与大众。游行诸国。人间愦闹。此非我宜。何时当得。离此群众。闲静之处。以求道真。寻获志愿。于闲静处。专精修道。复作是念。众生可愍。常处闇冥。受身危脆。有生有老。有病有死。众苦所集。死此生彼。从彼生此。缘此苦阴。流转无穷。我当何时。晓了苦阴。灭生老死。 

Explanation: Thereupon the crown prince accepted these disciples and traveled with them to various places to teach and transform sentient beings, going from village to village and from country to country. Wherever they went, the people all showed reverence and made the four kinds of offerings of food, drink, clothing, and medicine. The Bodhisattva thought: I travel with the assembly through various countries, yet the human world is so noisy and tumultuous—this is not a place suitable for me. When will I be able to leave this crowd and go to a quiet and secluded place to seek the true Path? Before long, his aspiration was fulfilled, and he found a quiet, secluded place where he devoted himself single-mindedly to cultivating the Path. He then had this thought: Sentient beings are pitiable, constantly dwelling in darkness and obscurity, receiving fragile and perilous bodies, subject to birth, aging, sickness, and death, a conglomeration of many sufferings—dying here and being born there, dying there and being born here—grasping this aggregate of suffering and transmigrating endlessly through birth and death. When shall I come to thoroughly understand the aggregate of suffering and extinguish birth, aging, and death?

From this account by the World-Honored One, it can be seen that in the course of cultivating the Path over countless kalpas, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas first engaged in diligent, focused solitary practice in remote and secluded places, far from the clamor of crowds, and only after attaining accomplishment did they teach among the people to liberate sentient beings. This is because the Path is attained in tranquility: tranquility gives rise to wisdom, and tranquility enables the attainment of meditative concentration (samādhi). Therefore, all who have achieved something in cultivation have gone through a stage of solitary quiet practice, distancing themselves from the worldly greed, anger, and delusion and from the clamor of the crowd, and from fame and gain; only after the mind attains purity can they enter the Path.