[236] **Having formerly wandered alone (eko pubbe caritvāna):** one has formerly wandered alone for two reasons — by what is reckoned as going forth (pabbajjā), or in the sense of relinquishing the group (gaṇāvavassagga).
How has one formerly wandered alone by what is reckoned as going forth? Having cut off the entire impediment (palibodha) of the household life, having cut off the impediment of children and wife, having cut off the impediment of relatives, having cut off the impediment of friends and companions, having cut off the impediment of stores, having shaved off hair and beard, having put on the ochre robes, having gone forth from the home life into homelessness, having attained the state of having nothing (ākiñcanabhāva), alone he wanders, dwells, moves about, conducts himself, protects himself, maintains himself, and sustains himself. Thus one has formerly wandered alone by what is reckoned as going forth.
How has one formerly wandered alone in the sense of relinquishing the group? Being thus gone forth, alone he resorts to remote lodgings — forests and woodland thickets — with little sound, with little noise, with an atmosphere free of people, fit for lying hidden from human beings, suitable for seclusion (paṭisallāna). Alone he goes, alone he stands, alone he sits, alone he lies down, alone he enters the village for alms, alone he returns, alone he sits in a private place, alone he determines upon the walking-meditation path; alone he wanders, dwells, moves about, conducts himself, protects himself, maintains himself, and sustains himself. Thus one has formerly wandered alone in the sense of relinquishing the group.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.