In teaching the five ascetics immediately after his own enlightenment, Shakyamuni adopted a gradual approach. First he exhorted them to follow the Middle Way between the extremes of asceticism and hedonism and taught that training must be based on a rational understanding of cause and effect. Next he led them to a logical understanding of the correct Buddhist interpretation of the world by explaining the Four Noble Truths. At this stage, his listeners attained the Eye of the Law, enabling them to see all things in their true form. Next the Buddha taught that the five aggregates are impermanent, suffering, and without an abiding self. Directing the ascetics to meditate on the nature of the five aggregates, he made their earlier intellectual understanding an experiential one; with this melding of idea and action their practice was complete, and they all became arhats. Similar examples of gradual teachings are not unusual in the texts of primitive Buddhism.Basic Buddhist Concepts