The Buddha seeks his former companions

39. Then the Buddha thought: “Who should I teach first? The person must be interested in the Dharma and quick to understand it.” First he thought of his old teachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. But they had both died. Then he remembered his five ascetic friends, Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama and Assaji. When he found out that they were living at Sarnath, near Varanasi, he left soon afterwards to find them.