Alara Kalama (Pāḷi & Sanskrit Āḷāra Kālāma/ Arāḍa Kālāma]), was a hermit and a teacher of meditation.
[4][5] Various recessions of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and other texts give an account of the Buddha being approached by a minister to the Mallas named Putkasa (Pali: Pukkusa) who told him about his teacher Alara Kalama's skill in meditation.
One day, while deep in meditation, Alara did not hear the sound of a caravan of five hundred wagons that passed by him.
[7] Alara taught Siddhartha meditation, especially a dhyānic state called the "sphere of nothingness" (ākiṃcanyāyatana).
[10] After attaining Enlightenment, the Buddha went to search for Alara Kalama to teach him the Dharma, only to find that he had died seven days prior.