Autonomous discipline

Where spiritual development takes place without resort to an external teacher or system, then the guidance for development arises deep within the seeker's personal being. This may be said to have been the case with the Buddha, for the set of practices and beliefs developed during the enlightenment and subsequent life of the Buddha arose, according to the traditional stories of his life, through insight gained by himself. This knowledge and insight were beyond mind and were such that the mind could not shake them.