Uddaka Ramaputta

A hermit and master of yogic meditation who lived in a forest near Rajagriha, the capital of Magadha, India. After Shakyamuni renounced the world to lead a religious life, Uddaka Ramaputta became his second teacher. He had seven hundred disciples and was said to have attained, through meditation, the Realm of Neither Thought Nor No Thought. Shakyamuni quickly mastered this meditation but, finding no fundamental answer to his questions therein, left Uddaka Ramaputta and turned to the practice of austerities.

With Uddaka Ramaputta, the Buddha to be, learned one must not be attached to perception or non-perception, i.e. the Middle Path.  He learned to say no to the pleasures of the palace, as wel as, no to the severe rejection of all things.