Who was the Buddha's second meditation teacher after Alara Kalama?

Uddaka Ramaputta was the Buddha’s second meditation teacher, after Alara Kalama.

Before his enlightenment, Siddhartha Gautama studied under Alara Kalama, who taught him advanced meditative absorptions. Gautama mastered the practice but recognized that these refined states did not end suffering permanently. He therefore continued his search and became a student of Uddaka Ramaputta.

Uddaka taught a highly subtle formless attainment called the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception. Gautama quickly mastered the method, but again concluded that it led only to an elevated meditative state, not to final liberation. Uddaka offered him a leadership role in the community, yet Gautama departed to pursue his own path.

The name Ramaputta means “son of Rama.” Buddhist traditions differ over whether Rama was Uddaka’s father or his spiritual teacher, Uddaka Rama. Another important detail is that Uddaka was not one of the five ascetics who later joined Gautama at Isipatana; he belonged to an earlier stage of Gautama’s quest.