Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Samaññaphala Sutta, whose title translates as 'The Fruit of Contemplative Life,' is the second discourse of the Digha Nikaya. It records King Ajātasattu of Magadha asking the Buddha what a person actually gains from living a contemplative life, after other teachers left him dissatisfied.
King Ajātasattu was the son and successor of King Bimbisara of Magadha. In the discourse he visits the Buddha at night to ask about the benefits of contemplative life and later declares himself a lay follower of the Buddha.
He grew fearful and suspicious on arriving at the mango grove because the 1,250 monks gathered there made no sound at all, not even a cough, and he worried his physician Jivaka was leading him into an ambush.
He confessed that he had killed his own father, King Bimbisara, in order to become king. The Buddha called it a transgression but accepted the confession because the king recognized it and sought amends in accordance with the Dhamma.
The Buddha describes a progression running from contentment with simple food and shelter and virtue's freedom from blame, through jhanic states of rapture and equanimity, to insight knowledge, supernatural powers, mind reading, three further knowledges, and release from samsara.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu called it 'one of the masterpieces of the Pali canon.'