1.Use of Brahmanical devices

In the Pali Canon, the Buddha uses many devices. For example, in 111, 92 and Vinaya i 246 of the , the Buddha praises the as the foremost sacrifice and the as the foremost meter:

aggihuttamukhā yaññā sāvittī chandaso mukham.

Sacrifices have the agnihotra as foremost; of meter the foremost is the Sāvitrī.

2.Tracing the oldest teachings

Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:

"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;""Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;""Cautious optimism in this respect."

3.Dhyana and insight

  A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhismnotes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36. 

4.Earliest Buddhism

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of , as a workable alternative to painful ascetic practices. Bronkhorst agrees that Dhyāna was a Buddhist invention,[] whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth the Buddha gained . Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to.[] According to Schmithausen and Bronkhorst, "liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism.[] The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

"They do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi."

Although (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way".In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas[] in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

The may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

The was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

5.Later developments

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

The : that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the is the means to accomplish this;The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.