Is it possible to live a solitary ascetic life in this secular age?

Is it possible to live a solitary ascetic life in this secular age?

Inter-faith et Post-faith indagation

Overpopulation, Man-Made Fringes, Hyper-Security, absence of free spaces where you could wander openly like Shiva, Vishnu, Buddha, Mahavira, Moses, Jesus, and pious beings used to do when there was flexibility in this world, opportunity to be totally free from the man made society?

In favor of a slope, a desolate lodge is being readied. Produced using shoddy timber, it will give a little chamber to resting and asking, a niche for washing, in addition to a territory sufficiently enormous for a stove, a sink, a table – and little else. From a seat outside, you can look over the fields and hedgerows of Shropshire. On a sunny morning like this, the Malvern Slopes are unmistakable somewhere in the range of 50 miles away. However in this display there is hardly some other indication of human home.

With a grin of happiness, John studies what will soon be his home – or all the more effectively, his cell. "I might be in singular," he says, "and it is stunning." On a bright evening in the 21st century, this delicately talked figure, in basic clothing – coverall and bifocals as opposed to facial hair and loincloth – declares himself as a recluse.

"It's known as the concealed life," he says. "No big surprise you didn't know about it. However, it is fit as a fiddle and living here in Britain, Scotland and Ridges." It is difficult to be exact about numbers. Recluses, all things considered, tend not to be over excited about reporting themselves. In any case, one late report proposed there might be around 200 recluses in England today.

A few, similar to John, will appreciate the devout life, yet alone, as opposed to in a group of priests or nuns. As they would in a cloister, they will take after a settled "control of life", adhering to a timetable (horarium) that can follow its underlying foundations to early Christianity. Loners, for example, these will frequently depict themselves as following the eremitic life, separating themselves from "solitaries", who take after a less controlled way, and who may not really subscribe to any characterized religion. Solitaries will, be that as it may, perpetually be looking for the profound, in spite of the fact that as one put it, "It's fairly more exploratory. I influence it to up as I come. I don't comprehend what will occur next."

Few out of every odd recluse appreciates the rustic surroundings of John's "cell". As I investigated the mysterious petition circles that go for a loner arrange (correspondences are by post), I found the presence of "ghetto hermiting, in awful bedsits, in unpleasant urban communities", as one source put it. A kinder term is "urban asceticism": living in the city however alone, in a level from which one rises as once in a while as could be expected under the circumstances. Some of these "urban recluses" even have websites. "Truly," starts the most recent section of one, "I do endeavor to post once like clockwork or something like that… " The second latest passage is without a doubt from 2009. The profile picture demonstrates what resembles a medieval religious woman. In any case, the essayist is a laywoman-handed loner over her late fifties, living in a flat in New York City. She works as a profession, yet from home, which empowers her "to stay 'in cell'" almost constantly. "I have staple goods and basically everything else conveyed. I seldom leave my condo with the exception of chapel or choir." She turned into a recluse in 2017, nine years in the wake of encountering "a staggering occasion in my life". "I started to see that time I burned through alone was salve for my harmed soul. Common binds started to unwind."

In our Facebook and Twitter-fixated age, such withdrawal may appear to be odd; suspicious, even. Which is the reason John has, after some delay, chose to give me a chance to visit. "Many individuals moving to the more lone life need to realize that it is alright – that they aren't terrible, they aren't frantic. These customs are a large number of years old."

In Eastern societies, the recluse custom has persevered for centuries. Christianity, once it went ahead, took action accordingly. The self-denying Anthony the Incomparable took after Jesus' lead by going into the wild in about Advertisement 270. When he kicked the bucket in 356, such a large number of recluses had imitated him that the betray around Alexandria had, as indicated by his biographer, "turn into a city". Recluses keep on piquing the interest, and ooze a quality of knowledge. "Sit in thy cell and thy cell will instruct thee all," as the Leave Father Abba Moses put it.

Today the New York recluse is expressed gratitude toward for her "useful tidbits and experience" – yet by virtual guests to her blog. Actually, the web has given an extraordinary lift to searchers of the singular life, enabling them to work from their cells, to look for their day by day bread, and have it conveyed. Furthermore, those searching for illumination don't need to look for a whiskery man on a peak. They can send an email.

You could be pardoned, in any case, for suspecting that the recluse's eremitic custom has a place in the Medieval times. However here is John, demonstrating to me his garden. In a warm voice with slight hints of an American intonation, he welcomes the honey bees as they buzz around the blooms. "Hey folks!"

The "shrouded life", he demands, isn't kicking the bucket. It is developing.

"An ever increasing number of individuals are swinging to along these lines of life. We don't end up noticeably lone on the grounds that we're apprehensive about the world, but since we need to move to one side from that hecticness and bedlam. We need some quiet, to be intelligent." Religious recluses concentrate on their association with God. In any case, says John, you don't need to be religious to build up your profound side, to focus on the things "that truly check". John experienced childhood in California and started as a loner in 1998, in the High Pyrenees of France. At 80, his face is weathered, however he is lean and sufficiently sound to go for 60. As he traces what truly checks, I can't resist considering different masters who prompted us, all the more gluttonously and hippyish, to turn on, tune in, drop out. "At the point when was the last time you simply did nothing? It's no wrongdoing. There is nothing composed in the colossal sacred books that says you must be always occupied. Life is short. For what reason not be cheerful?"

In an old shepherd's bungalow, on the high field above Stranraer, western Scotland, Sara Maitland concurs. "I was stating my petitions yesterday, and abruptly I had this impressive feeling of the hugeness of God. So no, I am not the sulking nearness on the field." The cabin has only two rooms. She has no cell phone (in spite of the fact that she is addressing me by means of her landline). No online networking, no radio, no TV. "My television is sewing."

"Despite everything i'm getting a terrible parcel of letters, which influences me to think there is a genuine appetite out there – for the otherworldly." The letter-essayists inquire as to whether they are directing their singular lives accurately. "I get a great deal of letters from ladies my age who have been widowed, dove into hush, and who feel they could improve their quiet. I like those." Despite the fact that she is a devotee, she doesn't, care for some eremitic loners, "in dutifulness to a religious administrator. I am not a blessed virgin." indeed, she had a long marriage and two kids. She shared an understudy house with Bill Clinton in the Sixties and was catapulted from people in general display of the Place of Hall in 1973, for irritating in help of ladies' lib.

She isn't, she worries, "as no-nonsense as the Forsake Fathers. I think about an appropriate bed. I don't whip myself. There's no extraordinary penitential stuff." John, as well, snickers when I express mellow dissatisfaction that he isn't in a give in. "Excessively wet! I don't need ailment." Innovation, be that as it may, has its downsides. Cash and expenses, it appears, are unavoidable, notwithstanding for loners. Maitland needs to pay board duty, and shop once in a while

She supplements her written work salary by working, "noiselessly", as an experimental writing instructor for Lancaster College. She speaks with understudies by email, on a PC that, she says gladly, has no stable hardware.

John, the manager of The Great Withdraw Guide, now in its 6th release, informs me regarding his most recent book: Great Living in Tough Circumstances: the Craft of Satisfaction. Entirely, this is from the recluse's genuine want to pass on the lessons he has learnt. In any case, indeed, he likewise needs to pay for his new cell.

John started his working life in South America, composition contents for what sounds like a Mexican precursor of Setback. In "the thundering Sixties", he worked in publicizing, in London. By the Eighties he was in PR, for customers like Unilever.

"I appreciated it. It was ideal for me at the time." Now, he wakes each morning in the vicinity of five and six. He quickly expresses gratitude toward God he is alive, and continues to stating a few Songs. There is a Book of scriptures perusing, another understanding (anything from the Leave Fathers to more present day essayists), and afterward breakfast: espresso and a bit of toast. Thus it proceeds, with morning petition, pensive hour, twelve supplication, reflection walk, and night supplication. During the evening, after a dinner of soup and bread, he may read criminologist books. He has brought up youngsters. He had a spouse – in spite of the fact that they isolated when he was 30. Presently he is in Shropshire, he will presumably observe his six grandchildren three or four times each year. The move to Shropshire, he lets me know – cheerily – was "so I can kick the bucket in my own particular dialect".

It is vulgar to get some information about different issues, yet I am perplexed I do. There is a long delay. Obviously there are allurements.

"With the lone life," he says, "regardless of how fulfilled you are, what is missing is human closeness – not by any means the sex some portion of it, yet that feeling of closeness, being with somebody near you." The relationship, be that as it may, finished. The calling to the singular life demonstrated most grounded. "There was an expansive piece of myself that I wasn't making accessible to the next individual. I wasn't in a position to fulfill another person."

At the point when Maitland discusses shallow present day life giving a mass of "thin connections", I can perceive what she implies. I absolutely identify when she calls air terminals "hellfire", and cell phones "creations of the fiend".

I can even observe the feeling of going on withdraw, or if nothing else for a long walk. It is the desire to make isolation perpetual that annihilations me – particularly when both Maitland and John propose it is a smart thought to counsel an accomplished "otherworldly chief" at times.

Life’s always been perilous throughout human history, however. One cannot tread on a path of enlightenment without ever present danger confronting that jiva soul in its journey through time and infinity to ultimate enlightenment and liberation.

The Buddha and the tigress

One day, three rulers rode out to chase. They happened upon a valley rich with trees and fragrant blooms and with a stream of sweet water. The siblings sat very as yet, appreciating the magnificence of the valley. All of a sudden, not a long way from them, the rulers spotted seven tiger offspring searching in the grass around their mom.

The tigress was thin and emaciated. She had not eaten for so long that her drain had gone away. The mother tiger gazed eagerly at her fledglings as they tumbled and moved around her attempting to get at her dry nipples.

The eldest sibling felt frustrated about the tigers yet he didn't recognize what to do about their predicament. The center sibling recommended they come back to the castle and bring back some crisp meat for the mother tiger.

"In the event that the mother tiger can be spared and her drain can be made to stream once more," he contended, "at that point unquestionably her whelps will likewise live."

The royal siblings consented to attempt and turned their steeds back towards the royal residence. Similarly as they began, the most youthful sovereign, whose name was Mahasattva, reexamined. It would take them a large portion of a day to get to the royal residence, he thought, and another half day of go for the arrival outing to the valley. Meanwhile, he contemplated, the mother tiger would starve to death. There and after that, Mahasattva concluded that he would give his own life all together that the tigress and her whelps could live.

"Hold up a moment," he called to his two siblings. "I truly feel too sick to make the trek back to the castle. I'll simply hold up here and rest until the point when you return."

At the point when his two senior siblings had dashed outside of anyone's ability to see, Mahasattva evacuated all his dress and set down before the enormous tigress. Likely, the tigress licked at Mahasattva's exposed body yet she stepped back when she found that he was as yet alive. Mahasattva lay still a while longer yet at the same time the tigress made no endeavor to eat him since she favored dead meat.

At long last understanding his mistake, Mahasattva bounced up and climbed the slope over the tigress and her offspring. Once there, he found a length of bamboo that he formed into a sharp blade. Grasping the chip of bamboo he wounded himself in the throat and, as his life's blood depleted away, he swooned and toppled over the edge of the slope, arrival directly before the tigress and her fledglings.

The tigress jumped on Mahasattva's dead body, anxiously eating up his substance, chewing on his bones and drinking up his spilled blood. In minutes, the tigress' bosoms started to load with drain and her whelps suckled ravenously. Resuscitated by their feast, the tigress and her seven whelps left the valley.

Meanwhile, the two siblings were en route back to the valley with a heap of crisp meat from the royal residence. When they arrived, they were astonished to find that the tigers were not there. Nothing stayed except for scattered bones and a store of garments. They knew quickly that the garments had a place with their more youthful sibling and that it was his bones strewn in the grass. It occurred to them now what Mahasattva's genuine explanation behind not coming back with them to the royal residence was. He had remained behind to forfeit his own particular life with the goal that the tigers would live.

The lord and ruler sobbed when they heard the news of their most youthful child's demise. Tragically, they rode out to the valley to see where their child had given his life to the tigress and her fledglings. When they saw his garments and bones, they were overpowered by melancholy and cried as if their hearts would break. In memory of their child Mahasattva, the ruler and ruler declared that a pagoda be based on the very spot where he had made his forfeit. In a couple of days the pagoda was finished and Mahasattva's garments and bones were respectfully put away inside.

Since that time, after quite a long time and a great many generations, individuals from all around have made the journey to Mahasattva's pagoda to copy incense and petition Buddha.

Self-denial: A Place in Modern Life?

So what effect, assuming any, does self-denial have in Modern Life? Does it take deserting the world to wind up plainly profoundly illuminated? Does one have to experience God to be a dedicated plain? While there has been a movement far from the 'sorted out religion', a startling number of people have looked for illumination through nourishment; abstaining from food, dietary issues, vegetarianism.

We have seen that yes, in fact, religious austerity is as yet overflowing among the devouring group, now holding a more comprehensive implication than archived in classical times; deserting the world is gratefully, pointless. It has a place. What's more, a recently discovered frame. Innovation has influenced monkish life it's to claim: an indulgent religious austerity for the 'each man'. Furthermore, despite the fact that God-incited religious austerity is still practically speaking, confidence isn't a necessity. Indeed, even Christians are allowed to make their own particular guidelines with respect to utilization, notwithstanding a standout amongst the most antiquated sustenance governs as yet existing at the ritualistic focus: the Eucharist.

The social orders of our reality can't keep religious austerity from developing in notoriety; however it relies upon themselves whether the rule of forbearance is to lead them to bondage or flexibility, to torment or edification, to confidence or to most profound sense of being.

Who Executed the Meat eater?: Vegetarianism and Veganism

The following arrangement of austere examples I wish to investigate exist inside the regularly developing society of the herbivore; veggie lovers and vegetarians. Specifically, why there has been an exponential ascent in such weight control plans, and whether we can call it religious austerity by any means.

For lucidity, a veggie lover is one who expends creature items, for example, cheddar and eggs, however won't touch the tissue; a vegetarian rejects all creature deliver, including things that are sourced from creature skins or results.

Vegetarianism as we probably am aware it today rose in the late nineteenth century, where it was transcendently polished by the post-Protestant, European populace. In spite of the fact that the term itself was birthed from innovation, the training really started well before Christianity, with the Agnostics of classical times and their lessons on the estimation of discretion in the utilization of the animals of Mother Earth.

Veggie lover living all in all echoes standards of immaculateness, environment and disavowal as inspiration, albeit a few conventions vary marginally from place to put. While England and the Assembled States advance creature welfare through their eating regimens, Europeans tend to practice such abstemiousness for wellbeing reasons. Relatedly, the ascent in vegetarianism could be clarified by both our enthusiasm for, and information of, wellbeing and its real impacts.

Swearing off creature items was likewise part of medieval fasting practice, attached to the cycle of the congregation's year and week. It strengthened a devout pecking order, with priests embracing strict administrations, and the most extreme, for example, the Benedictine organization, receiving significantly more stark assortments. We could contrast such a progression and the one that exists between the different off-arrangements of vegetarianism; veggie lovers, fruitarians, pescatarians and so forth. What's more, similarly as the medieval practices held associations between creature fragile living creature and animalism, today veggie lovers dispose of the sexual component, rather connecting meat with strict animosity.

However, would we be able to at present discuss vegetarianism as a self-denying practice? Some time recently, vegetarianism was an unmistakable practice that isolated people from the majority. Through this, it strengthened the possibility of a heavenly group that had spearheaded its own particular way of monkish life. Today is unique. Current vegetarianism shows such an eating routine, not really as restraint, but rather as something overflowing with purificatory benefits. It is additionally not restrictive; a developing number hold fast to its works on, pushing vegetarianism towards the standard, instead of the chosen few. A measurement recommending what many have been considering: who murdered the flesh eater?

Be that as it may, notwithstanding its prominence, vegetarianism is as yet a type of restraint and has its own mainstream component of good reclamation. Vegan nourishment is viewed as fresher, lighter and purer, however something open to everybody. The redemptive benefits are not kept to a heavenly tip top, the devout wonders, nor are they controlled by quick and devour. It subsequently contains parts of conventional religious austerity, yet inside an innovator develop of qualities.

Grummet strangely communicates, in his work Sustenance and Religious philosophy, to take abstention as vegetarianism truly is to challenge the rationale of utilization: on the off chance that we have enough to live on, why take more? This is something that appears to parallel medieval thoughts of self-denial. It additionally appears an estranging articulation for the predatory populace, who have turned out to be progressively threatening towards 'veg-indoctrination'.

A Gluttonous Religious austerity

It appears that today, we discover delight in religious austerity, as well as delight in its immoderation. Parsimonious want is developed as a reason for the delight of torment. Nietzsche himself saw such practice as a 'savage type of enjoyment'. The plain delight is the joy of the innovator, a joy in change, a haughtiness that communicates a will so completely set upon its objective, an objective so incomprehensible that to seek after it takes self-importance and lowliness in their outrageous structures immediately – an objective that is unthinkable for the austere not to pursue. Gratification and religious austerity are similarly pompous in their own rights, through the aggregate nonchalance of society's notices; the value of one's own delights, or torment, is more prominent than whatever else. Subsequently, 'libertine monkish life' appears the ideal term for the practices we have been talking about.

Anorexics enjoy the torment their extraordinary malnourishment causes on their bodies; they are harming from the self-manhandle, however unbelievably content with the control they have. Serial calorie counters detest keeping away from their most loved sustenances, however savor in the energy of their newly discovered certainty. Indeed, even the veggie lovers delight in the gentility, and the immaculateness of their selves, overlooking the torment that accompanies shortcoming through iron insufficiency or threatening vibe from the savage. We should acknowledge the clear issues: innovation has overhauled religious austerity similarly as it does with innovation. Why have a place with one school of figured, when you can have two? It surely resembles the indulgent self-denying is digging in for the long haul.

There are two separate sorts of an austeric: regular and extraordinary. Anorexia would be a case of the characteristic, which is characterized as being neurotic. While the wonderful is extraordinarily created; shared in for religious reasons or as a profoundly engaged type of abstention. The ladies of days of yore most reliably fall under the wonderful heading. Females today, despite the fact that the supernatural without a doubt still exists, are comprehended as normal religious austerity.

Pre-current ladies were less inclined to be reported as normally avoiding, on the most part, on the grounds that the specialists of the time were both questionable to cure such a materialistic ailment and more averse to analyze a lady in any case. We can ascribe such treatment to medieval musings on avarices. On the off chance that a lady was ravenous, oft pegged as the most ghastly of the wrongdoings, she was disgraceful and shameful. It was something ladies were cautioned against and urged to feel regretful about, much like they are inside the contemporary rise of pop culture. So when these wiped out people landed at chapel searching for help, ministers were reluctant to offer a cure. Indeed, even their groups offered no such sensitivity, seeing the conduct as consideration chasing and self-destructive.

Ladies, for example, Catherine of Genoa and Columba of Rieti were archived as licking filthy dishes, drinking vinegar and storing nourishment, despite the fact that they denied feeling hungry. Elizabeth of Hungary nourished others quickly and fanatically and, similar to present day anorexics, picked up consideration by inquisitive into the wellspring of each piece of sustenance. Many communicated that they were unworthy to eat.

It is apparent that both social and religious assessment impacted the dietary patterns of medieval ladies, much like mainstream culture, or societal models, influence female utilization today. Besides, when we take a gander at the history all the more intently, it could be proposed that these ladies were endeavoring to invert their conventional social part of sustenance preparers; controlling their own particular bodies, their families, their religious bosses, and even God himself8. This is a startling parallel to the urgency in anorexic ladies to switch their social part of, well, the lady; looking for a pre-pubescent body, saying goodbye to customary feminine cycle, controlling themselves to fit the media prime example. As it were, they took, and are reclaiming control in our current reality where they have none.

It appears to be very apparent, at that point, that self-denial has kept going into advancement and positively has a place in it. However, it is as yet vague whether it is indistinguishable to that of olden times, or something new inside and out.

In this way, let us take a gander at particular likenesses in the cutting edge world. In reference to the marvelous strain of fasting, in spite of the fact that not as overflowing, it does at present happen. The plenty of Christian abstaining from food manuals available are confirmation of such. One just needs to navigate an inquiry on Amazon to see that there are not few, but rather several books, all looking for current female perusers searching for a Divine being endorsed street to religious austerity. Patricia Kreml, creator of Thin for Him, relates the risks of indulging to the rebellious craving of Eve. Furthermore, Gwen Shamblin, in Transcend, demands that fat disappoints the Master, as well as demonstrates a basic otherworldly issue: a failure to offer oneself to Him.

Such a pattern isn't just apparent inside the distributing business. The congregation itself has paid heed to purchaser enthusiasm, framing help bunches for religious people needing weight reduction. Some congregation based parsimonious workshops urge devotees to see associations between their servitude to sustenance and the Jews' subjugation in Egypt; between their want to be thin and the more extensive Christian story of forfeit and redemption.

A case of the immensity of these contemporary concerns can likewise be seen through the weight-control endeavors of Ladies Aglow, the biggest ladies' fervent association on the planet. For these ladies, indulging is both sin and affliction, understood as ravenousness and disobedience to specialist. A thin figure, in this way, is the exemplification of a lady's compliance to God's Word. There is likewise noteworthy confirmation among such gatherings, of a shared trait in religious themes between the present and artifact: extreme, unadulterated, add up to, flawlessness.

With respect to the mainstream likenesses to pre-advancement, the common strain of fasting is presumably, however not solely, more available to the larger part. Monkish life as anorexia is most noticeable inside the common statistic. In any case, the feeling of distance and division from the body communicated by individuals with dietary issues is additionally paralleled in the female holy people of days of yore. At the point when people express a failure to take control of their wants, for their most loved nourishments, or to adjust to a counting calories program, they encounter sentiments of blame, disgrace, self-hatred and irritation. This sounds fundamentally the same as the religious blame felt in times gone past.

Facilitate similitudes are seen, however somewhat indefinitely, through the benefit hungry logic of the advanced shopper entrepreneur. The eating less carbs industry is both omnipresent and all-seeing, supplanting the Christian maker as the enchanted specialist; the objective for the cutting edge austere to reach. With its new semi religiosity, it is subsequently obvious that these organizations have painstakingly fused religion into their publicizing efforts. For instance, as Grummet writes in Sustenance and Philosophy, the Kellogg siblings advanced the picture of Sister Ellen White with their cornflakes; a religious virtuosi who had lectured about swearing off meat.

In any case, regardless of such classical religious associations, there are likewise some striking contrasts in current austere practice. Clifford Geertz refers to the contrast between parsimonious fasting, similar to that of the medieval time, and abstaining from food to show the qualification amongst religious and mainstream conduct. 'While weight decrease plans to accomplish a limited or molded objective, religious monkish life tries to achieve an unconditioned end'. The abstaining from food we rehearse contemporarily is attached to the material world. Basically the way we look. Feel. Parsimonious fasting, then again, has importance on a higher plane; there is reference to a higher power, or purpose behind presence. Having such a control over one's body likewise gives an intrinsic satisfaction, power, opportunity and triumph that was rarely cheered in olden times, yet is regularly proclaimed today. This control can open ways to an individual deep sense of being, something that gloats a more uncertain and subjective component, than the religion that was overflowing before.

Anorexia and eating less subsequently display a few components of old-fashioned religious austerity, with their watchful thoughtfulness regarding ingestion, and going with withdrawal from society. They deny the tissue; we see this through restraint from individual physical wants, yet in addition in the dismissal of exacting substance: womanly bends and feminine cycle. There is blame. What's more, hating. What's more, implications of sanitization through cleansing, bulimia and gorging, much as we saw with Catherine of Genoa or Columba of Rieti. We even witness the distress to make an ethereal-like body, before as arrangement for the climb to the kingdom of God, and now to get ready for society's judgment.

Be that as it may, in spite of the fact that we have seen that abstinence as sustenance utilization still exists in our present day, clearly the profound type of religious austerity, relating to God and access to His kingdom, making a positive out of starkness, is never again present and is rather supplanted by the harmed and damage of the dietary problem.

So would we be able to call this self-denial? To allude to our unique definition, 'forbearance as a measure of individual teach', we can see that yes, in fact, monkish life it is. In any case, the additions are negligible and the torment for no profit, to argue for the sake of arguing, other than narrow minded feel. For me, when teach drops to sickness, and religious austerity touches base at disease, we can't call it self-denial by any means. In any case, at that point one could contend, was this even monkish life in any case? Scholastically, it appears that it was. So perhaps we should acknowledge this cruel reality: that religious austerity is disease's straightforward cover; that it generally was, and it generally will be, even in the opportunity and benevolence of our incredible innovation.

As Modern Day Ascetics

It used to be that if you wanted to be an ascetic you had to wear a hair shirt, or live in a barrel, or stand on top of a column holding your right arm up for years on end. As North America's yearning for decadence and luxury has ramped up over the years it has become easier to at least appear to be some sort of renunciant. To the average American, simple living folk may appear to be modern day ascetics.

You could be a modern day ascetic if:

1. you don't own a cell phone
2. you don't have cable TV (if you don't own a TV or any form of phone you may be hardcore, the equivalent of wearing a cilice)
3. you only have one car
4. you don't own a stainless steel BBQ (recently a family member looked at me with a puzzled expression, and total disbelief, when she asked, "You don't have a BBQ?")
5. you use your feet to get around
6. you don't wear the latest fashions
7. you haven't been to a movie for years
8. you eschew annual trips to Mexico
9. you aren't constantly starved for sex
10. you deny yourself restaurant and fast food
11. you live in less than 3000 square feet
12. you are not buying anything that you don't need to live your simple, joyful life

There is no need to get naked and smear yourself with mud, dung, and human corpse ash as some Indian ascetics do. Mostly, you just have to drop out of the conspicuous consumer class.

Quotes by people

“I have decided after having a life of things and never really having a life of happiness, that I am purging my life of these things. So that I may work less and build relationships more. So that I may raise my child instead of daycare.

So goodbye cable, you are getting cancelled today. Goodbye second car, you gave me pain and stole my precious free time. Luckily no BBQ or fancy clothes, I've always been a minimalist, but I could do more. And so I will stop talking about it and start purging these things.”

--James--Recent follower of Mahayana Buddhism

“I sleep on the ground with some warm blankets and sleep better than I ever have in my whole life, however, I think a pillow is something I would not give up. Specifically two pillows. One seems like it's not enough support and anything over two is too much for me. That is an individual choice and disease processes in an individual may warrant more pillows. I certainly agree with the premise of your posting, the individual must decide what is the appropriate balance in life.”

-- Anonymous

“I live an ascetic lifestyle, but it is not like you spoke of...

Have you ever read Herman Hesse's Siddhartha?

Anyway, I seek to learn about love. As Siddhartha's teacher explained, it will take money. Siddhartha took to business like a game and became quite successful.

I follow in his footsteps.

Here is where my ascetic practice comes in...

For the last 4 years, I have been teaching myself digital marketing because that's what I want to do.

As a result of relentless pursuit, traveling door-to-door vacuum sales experience, and being a skilled massage professional I have landed my dream job at the most successful acupuncture clinic in Long Beach, CA (Bixby Knolls).

My high conversion rate selling packages landed me the promotion to case manager with a great commission rate on top of my massage income there.

I dress for success, save big, and drink/eat well, however....

I take the train back from Long Beach every night to downtown LA, and hang a hammock on the side of the World Trade Center.

I have a bicycle for transportation. Between it and the Metro train, I get around LA.

I sold my car Oct. 2012, and rode a bicycle from Denver, to San Diego visiting Buddhist monasteries along the way to learn about meditation.

The Buddhist have 13 acetic practices. I am an "open air dweller".

I will get a place after I save big for a couple of months, but for now I live under the open sky.

I still wear $200 shoes, and the clothes to match. I wake up and wander into the Westin Bonaventure each morning to use the restroom and get a mocha.

Yet at the same time, I can fit everything I own (aside from the bike) into a high school locker.

I want to know if there are any others like myself; worldly ascetics still seeking spiritual gain.

What I don't get is why often the few possessions that ascetics have are the most inefficient, low quality stuff. I'm talking about quality over quantity. I'm talking about having the right tool for the right job, not "look at me, my stuff is better than yours."

I'm not interested in advertising my asceticism, making myself a target for the profane masses who attach and attempt to destroy what does not fit in. By wearing high quality clothes (think "old money," high-quality, yet NOT for the purpose of standing out like "new money") I am not harassed by the police for living a lifestyle that they are trained to harass. I am not harassed by business owners for what they think drives away their customers. For that matter, I don't drive away their customers loitering about enjoying my day near their store instead of slaving away for more conspicuous consumption credits.

Standing out in one environment is blending in in others. I agree that many consume because, well, actually because they have been programmed by society since birth to be consumers. But by blindly consuming, they often throw away their money not even getting the results they hoped it would buy.

And most ascetics, let's face it, they are engaged in "conspicuous" asceticism. They seem to be making those choices so society sees them as "ascetic," or "spiritual." Not because they are making conscious decisions about how they live their lives.

Minimalism is just one form of asceticism, and as a result of my minimalist choices, I am able to make sure that the few tools I have truly enrich my life.

I am not trying to define asceticism, but rather encourage an alternative view. More importantly, I'm interested in making connections with those that read what I said, and say "yes! This guy gets what I'm talking about." I know the typical, limited views of what it means to be an ascetic, and I'm aware (painfully so) how many people assume there is a box that ascetics all fit into.”

-- Omar Von Gimbel

“Yowsers!

-I don't have cable TV. In fact, no TV

-I only have one car

-I don't own a stainless steel BBQ

-I use my feet to get around (when feasible)

-I don't wear the latest fashions

-I haven't been to a movie for 2 years

-I eschew annual trips to Mexico

-I live in less than 3000 square feet

Looks like I'm on my way to becoming a modern ascetic :)”

-- DavidC

“Rather than compare to the hyper materialistic American lifestyle, how about considering the folks in Southern Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Mali, Chad, Eritrea, Somalia, Bangladesh, Hmong, etc, etc, etc. Consider what is basic to life, besides no TV, and you might get a real picture of an Ascetic life. It is actually amazing how well a human being can live with basic necessities and a good attitude.”

-- Anonymous

“I have phone t the moment, but no for much longer. I may get a non-contract phone.

There is cable where I'm staying, but I don't use i. I do use the internet, and own a computer. I consider it a part of myself, as it is the means by which i can channel restless energy, and reduce my impact on the outside world.

I only have one old car, from before I started renouncing. And I barely use it.

I do not have a barbecue.

I don't really go out much. I'm almost a hermit.

I currently have 3 outfits.

I pay to see a movie once a year, usually.

Trips? I don't even want to go to the store during the day.

I'm a partial celibate.

I will eat restaurant food occasionally, usually when someone else offers, or I come across enough money to feed someone else.

My living space is the size of a large closet.

I only buy food, clothing when needed, and computer parts.”

-- Anonymous

“Fellow hermit here, no eclectic, wood stove, haul my water up a mountain. I live on an island in a large lake. I am celibate working out the turmoil of modern marriage, and my own salvation. I live in a small Davis building,30 by 40.. single room. I have a dog named River.. I keep a garden.. tomatoes, potatoes, okra, squash , etc.. fish are abundant spring , summer and fall. I sea kayak to the fishing grounds... I am an Orthodox Christian and serve as reader and cantor...planned voluntary poverty, simplicity, have taken time to bring to fact. That it is possible to serve. others. I am not perfect in this life. but strive towards it.”

-- Anonymous

“Have lived five miles out of town on an island in a large lake for 10 years. I killed by radio and TV then. I keep simple clothing, on what is needful.. I chose voluntary poverty, obedience to my faith, and chastity( attempting or amend the turmoil of modern marriage in my own life) I am off the grid, and live on perhaps 300 dollars a month.. I feel the spiritual end of this life is what is important. I chose this life, to be able to be free to help others and work out my salvation. I own an 21 year old pickup to haul my water up the mountain. and garden and fish for my food I serve as cantor and and reader for my parish.”

-- Anonymous

“The celibacy thing is not my bag. But the rest I can dig.”

-- Anonymous Sex Addict

“In the present age of Kali it is not possible to live like a traditional ascetic. A traditional ascetic performs yoga and meditation and avoids all contact of the senses with their objects, the whole day that’s all he does.

The only austerity you have to perform in the present time of history is to call upon God as in the Hare Krishna mantra. Of course, just to be a proper human being you have to practice non-violence, so therefore no meat-eating, no sex outside of marriage, no intoxication and no gambling.

In the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, we learn that the four pillars of religion are cleanliness, austerity, compassion, and truthfulness. There is a systematic and well-rounded process to religion, whose foundation is structured on these four pillars. Religion is not simply a matter of faith, nor just a system of morals and ethics, although it is often portrayed as such. It is more than faith, it is a science - in Bhagavad-gita, Krishna calls it the science of the self.

As these four pillars are the foundation of religion, the Vedic scriptures also teach that there are four main sinful activities - illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and meat eating. Why are they "sinful?" Because they each attack and destroy a specific pillar of religion. Cleanliness is destroyed by illicit sex; austerity by intoxication; compassion by meat-eating; and truthfulness by gambling.

Thus it is clearly seen that modern, contemporary culture is constantly trying to destroy religious principles by undermining the four pillars of religion. For example, the vast majority of all TV and movies out of Hollywood are based on the repeated and glorified practice of the four sinful activities mentioned above, which destroy religious principles. There is a constant propaganda going on to normalize and make acceptable illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating, and gambling.

Thus, the modern global culture, which is being hailed as the pinnacle of all human progress and knowledge, is actively seeking to destroy the eternal religious principles mentioned in the Vedas. Another sign that contemporary culture is thoroughly degraded and guided by atheistic principles is that the most intimate dealings between a man and a woman, ie. kissing, is depicted in minute, graphic detail on big widescreens. According to the Vedic standard that is tantamount to pure porn.

Now, when we point that out to mainstream people, it is rejected and scoffed at as being backwards and primitive. But when one of the most intimate exchanges between a man and a woman is engaged in freely and publicly without any restraint, what does that tell us about the culture we live in?

Why this observation? Because as devotees of Krishna, we are trying to emulate the Vedic culture and values. At the same time many of us live in a society, where these values are regarded as primitive and backwards. In fact, as westerners we have grown up to see the standards of the modern consumer culture as normal and even coveted and glorified.

Srila Prabhupada said, that the difference between him and his disciples was that he was afraid of maya, they were not. This is to show how important it is for a devotee to understand how harmful and degraded the modern culture is. Things that according to the Vedic standard are considered extremely sinful are considered completely normal in modern society - cow-killing, publicly kissing and fondling, scantily clad women and so on.

The global culture is merely an attempt to make the whole world into a marketplace of McDonald's, Levis and Coca-cola. It is being hailed as the info-age, but when examined closely, the info available is more or less a barrage of propaganda to make the general population into good and loyal consumers and usurpers of nature. The goal of life, instead of being knowledge of the self and an end to the existential problems of life, is now centered around getting an education, then a job that will enable one to spend money for sense-gratification.

The goal of life has become to spend money on consumer goods, and the producers of these goods spend vast amounts of money to convince people to buy their products. Basically the whole world is running on trade. It is a business-culture governed by vaishyas not by brahmanas, as a proper human culture is meant to be. So Srila Prabhupada ordered us to create a class of brahmins to guide society, and the only way to do that is by preaching sanatana-dharma - the eternal religion, and that is exactly what ISKCON is doing all over the world.

Krishna says:

Those who are free from false prestige, illusion and false association, who understand the eternal, who are done with material lust, who are freed from the dualities of happiness and distress, and who, bewildered, know how to surrender unto the Supreme Person attain to that eternal kingdom. (Bg. 15.5)”

-- Jahnu Das, Hare Krishna

“If you try to do it on your own, and don’t have a clear idea of what your goal is nor exactly how to achieve it, then it’s going to be really hard. Really really hard. You have to struggle with the mind and senses every second of every day as you progress. You have to give up all thoughts of sense-gratification what to speak of the acts. They must be rooted out mercilessly by whatever means possible. To try to do it in the company of materialists is out of the question so you have to live away from the rest of the world, disinterested in all that is going on. If you can achieve that you will become peaceful and then start to become happy. If you find a nice society of people that are also practicing asceticism, then you will have a ball. Forget the struggles, you can go straight to the happy stage and can dovetail the senses in activities that assist and not hinder your ascetic life.”

-- Murari Das, 39 years practicing Bhakti yoga.

“Try becoming Spiritual and NOT Religious.”

-- Anne Kitty

“You don't have to be religious or follow any religion to live a ascetic life. What you need is willpower and commitment.

Living an ascetic life means giving up on a lot including the greatest of pleasures offered to mankind including food, alcohol, sex and entertainment to name a few.

Also, you don't have to go live in a hill to be an ascetic. You can live amongst all and still be an ascetic.”

-- Sandra S

“Knowing yourself rather than others will lead to an ascetic life. I would recommend you to follow Sri Ramana Maharshi's philosophical enlightenments on the ultimate enquiry about 'Who Am I ?'

You would get a solution by enquiring yourself”

-- Matisyahu

“There was a middle aged man who grew tired and angry with his monotonous and difficult life so he decided to become an ascetic monk and wandered everywhere in search of guru but this man was a restless being who would get angry at even small things but somehow he started meditating under a Banyan tree soon time flew and he came out of his meditative state after twelve long years after Meditation a crow was making noise near him so he got angry and burned the crow from the fire that came through his forehead then he realized that he has attained some extraordinary powers. So the next day he went to the city for alms and saw a young voluptuous lady who was sitting outside her house in a bad mood This ascetic went to her and asked for alms the lady asked the monk to wait outside for a minute she went inside to cook food for the ascetic but at that time her husband arrived and ate that food seeing that nothing was left to cook she went to the ascetic and said him to come tomorrow for alms hearing this the ascetic got angry and used his powers to burn her to ashes but to his amazement the lady was still alive and didn't even got a scratch from flames looking at this extraordinary situation the ascetic asked why was she didn't burned to ashes the lady replied ‘My husband is a drunkard he never listens at me and tortures me every day and I realized that he won't change so I am suffering this since long time but this suffering and following  my duty towards my husband in order to change him from his bad habits I earned some superpowers.’

The lady said to ascetic that he earned his superpowers by Meditation. She earned them by following dharma/duty.’”

-- Anonymous

“Choose the type of ascetic you want to become. Approach one of them to ask necessary questions. Become one of them. A most extreme asceticism in ancient time is an ascetic who practiced it only wore plant leaves or leather of an animal (particularly black panther or leopard that was not killed by him). This ascetic lived in the jungle away from people. He lived on leaves, tree burg, shoot... He practiced not killing, etc. He practiced brahmavihara (compassion etc) in meditative way that established him in jhana.”

-- Min Khin Kyaw

The thirteen ascetic practices

Long before Buddha appeared into this world, there did exist ascetic practices designed for oppressing the body in as variegated as numerous ways. Those who adopted them believed that they would enable them to get liberated from the sorrow any living being. On the other hand, others were convinced that the ultimate goal of existence lied in knowing how to enjoy it to the full and focused all their efforts on best enjoying sensual pleasures.

From his very first teaching, Buddha categorically rejected these two paths that he qualified of « extreme paths ». In this teaching, he explains us that only the moderate path, the « middle path », can lead us to the development of wisdom and right knowledge of reality. The two extreme paths develop, on their behalf, attachments and false views, contrary to the moderate path, which enables the lessening of attachments and the development of right view.

The conduct laid down by the Blessed one for monks and nuns (the pātimokkha), for novices (the 10 precepts) and for the laity (the 5 or 8 precepts) is sufficient guidance to anyone who conveniently trains into satipaṭṭhāna. To those who wish to much more rapidly or easily reach nibbāna, he also taught a set of ascetic practices which are non-compulsory (the 13 dhutaṅgas that are not included into the vinaya), which enables to reduce one's needs to the least, thus sparing, the one who adopts these practices, from pride, greed, and aversion, which constitute the main poisons on the path to liberation (only by practising certain dhutaṅgas in daily life can we really understand this fact; results are impressing).

dhutaṅgas are not designed for superior beings, neither for inferior beings. They are beneficial for all those who are able to put them into practice. A dhutaṅga is not an extreme practice; it is a mere practice that enables the mind to be rapidly and easily purified, absolute prerequisite to the development of attention and concentration. It reduces useless impediments, such as excessive food, numerous clothes to look after, the agitation of inhabited areas, very various attachments. Provided it is conveniently adopted, no dhutaṅga does cause to arise any kind of tiredness or oppression of the body or the mind. If a dhutaṅga involves a great difficulty or a difficult effort to an individual, he shouldn't practice it, as it would become a practice extreme for himself.

Everyone is free, according to his capacities and wishes, to adopt one or several dhutaṅgas, which each comprises three levels of restriction. The aim of these practices lies in providing an environment as auspicious as possible for renunciation.

Thus, the 13 dhutaṅgas, which mean " renunciation " [to abandon (dhuta); state of mind (aṅga)], are a set of practices designed for considerably reducing our attachments, in order to reach nibbāna at the soonest, like a bird that crosses the cloudless sky on a straight line.

The 13 dhutaṅgas

There do exist thirteen ascetic practices: two for the robes, five for the food, five for the spot of residence, and one for the posture (known to be the dhutaṅga of effort). To get access to the detailed definition of a dhutaṅga, click on its definition in the below displayed board:

1. paṃsukūla : abandoned robes

2. tecīvarika : three robes

3. piṇḍapāta : collection by means of one's bowl

4. sapadānacārika : food collection without skipping houses

5. ekāsanika : a single meal

6. pattapiṇḍika : everything within the bowl

7. khalupacchābhattika : no longer accepting any extra food after having started to take the meal

8. āraññika : to remain in the forest

9. rukkhamūla : to remain beneath a tree

10. abbhokāsika : to remain on the bare earth without shelter

11. susānika : to remain among charnels

12. yathāsantatika : to sleep at the allotted spot

13. nesajjika : to renounce to the lying posture

The five kinds of motivations

For the practice of dhutaṅgas, there do exist several kinds of motivations. A few can adopt one of them out of a bad purpose, in the aim of stirring up admiration around themselves, whereas others adopt one of these practices out of a genuine purpose, in order to cure themselves from kilesās, with the same state of mind into which one takes a medicine. Here are the five kinds of motivation that we can distinguish among those who adopt one or more dhutaṅgas:

1) Out of complete ignorance, without even knowing their advantages: after having merely heard the practitioners of the dhutaṅgas are of good renown, for being able to say " me, I practice the dhutaṅgas", etc.

2) For benefitting with the advantages feeding up greed, such as: for receiving a lot of gifts, for being well considered by others, for causing a great veneration to arise from others, for attracting disciples to oneself, etc.

3) Out of madness, out of complete ignorance, without being in quest for anything whatsoever.

4) Because Buddha and ariyās praise such practices.

5) For benefitting with healthy advantages, such as: the capacity to be contented with very little, weakness inherent to greed, easiness to obtain what is needed, tranquillity, detachment, etc.

Buddha disapproved the first three motivations, he only approved the last two. An individual may then adopt one or several dhutaṅgas only if he is motivated according to the fourth or fifth among these five kinds of motivations. However, a dhutaṅga is of much higher benefit if it is adopted according to the fifth motivation instead of the fourth.   

The five factors that ought to be developed by a practitioner of the dhutaṅgas

A practitioner of the dhutaṅgas who is in the position of doing such practices (he undergoes a good state of health, etc.), who is honest and who has nibbāna as goal, is worthy to be worshipped by the brahmās, devas and humans.

Here are the five factors which each practitioner of the dhutaṅgas should develop:

1. To be without greed.

2. To know how to be contented with very little.

3. To really want to get rid of kilesās.

4. To remain on a calm spot.

5. To no longer wish any extra existence in whatsoever world and conditions (in other parlance, wishing parinibbāna).

The first factors are against greed. They contribute in eliminating sensory desires. The might whose the last of these factors is object can be cultivated by means of wisdom.

Through alobha we eliminate practices that are meant for developing sensory desires (kāmasukhallikā nuyoga), and through amoha, we eradicate all practices that oppress the body (attakilamathā nuyoga).

Buddha congratulates those who adopt the dhutaṅgas by fully developing the above mentioned five factors.

According to another commentary, the factors needed to the practice of dhutaṅgas are:

1. saddhā, faith, confidence.

2. hirimā, the fact to be afraid or ashamed of evil deeds.

3. dhitimā, the fact to be calm, self-possessed and concentrated on one's deeds.

4. akuha, the indifference towards notoriety, renown, consideration on others' behalf.

5. atthavasī, the fact to have the realisation of dhamma as unique aim.

6. alobha, straightforwardness.

7. sikkhākāma, the fact to be naturally and constantly virtuous.

8. aḷhasamādāna, the fact to prevent oneself from breaking one of these practices.

9. anujjhānabahula, the fact not to criticize others, even if they are at fault.

10. mettāvihārī, the fact to constantly remain filled with benevolence.

A serious practitioner of the dhutaṅgas has to be conveniently rooted into one of these ten factors. The one who knows how to stick to it is in the position to reach nibbāna.

The elements that ought to be avoided:

1. pāpiccha, to want unhealthy things.

2. icchāpakata, to oppress one's mind through desires.

3. kuhaka, to try to draw consideration from others.

4. luddha, covetousness, cupidity.

5. odarika, to be abusively preoccupied by one's food.

6. lābhakāma, to want to get involved into numerous matters.

7. yasakāma, to want to have many disciples, to want to be worshipped by many people.

8. kittikāma, to want notoriety, a great renown.

If a bhikkhu practises the dhutaṅgas according to one or several of these eight points, he will certainly be subject to criticism and contempt on others' behalf. He even risks to experience some disabilities during his next existence, such as ugliness, malformation, a severed limb, if it is not the realm of hells. That's why one should strive for developing the needed factors, and to avoid those who are detrimental.

The procedure of adoption of the dhutaṅgas

In order to adopt the dhutaṅgas that one wishes to practice, the ideal prospect lies in doing it before Buddha's presence.

If Buddha is far away or no more, it is beneficial to adopt the dhutaṅgas before the presence of an aggasāvaka (appellation given to Buddha's two most nobles disciples).

If the aggasāvakas are far away or no more, we can do it before the presence of a mahāsāvaka (appellation given to the 80 greatest disciples of a Buddha).

If the mahāsāvakas are far away or no more, we can do it before the presence of an arahanta.

If we can't seize the opportunity doing it before the presence of an arahanta, we can do it before the presence of an anāgāmi.

If we can't seize the opportunity doing it before the presence of an anāgāmi, we can do it before the presence of a sakadāgāmi.

If we can't seize the opportunity doing it before the presence of a sakadāgāmi, we can do it before the presence of a sotāpana.

If we can't seize the opportunity doing it before the presence of a sotāpana, we can do it before the presence of someone who perfectly knows the three parts of the tipiṭaka.

If we can't seize the opportunity doing it before the presence of someone who perfectly knows the three parts of the tipiṭaka, we can it before the presence of someone who perfectly knows two of the three parts of the tipiṭaka.

If we can't seize the opportunity doing it before the presence of someone who perfectly knows two of the three parts of the tipiṭaka, we can it before the presence of someone who perfectly knows one of the three parts of the tipiṭaka.

If we can't seize the opportunity doing it before the presence of someone who perfectly knows one of the three parts of the tipiṭaka, we can it before the presence of someone who perfectly knows one of the chapters of one of the three parts of the tipiṭaka.

If we can't seize the opportunity doing it before the presence of someone who perfectly knows one of the chapters of one of the three parts of the tipiṭaka, we can it before the presence of someone who is well versed into the aṭṭhakathās (commentaries).

If we can't seize the opportunity doing it before the presence of someone is well versed into the aṭṭhakathās (commentaries), we can do it before the presence of someone who practises the dhutaṅgas.

If no one be present, we can do it before a cetiya.

It is better to adopt one or several dhutaṅgas before the presence of a being endowed with a pure sīla. This incites us to better take care of our practice of the dhutaṅgas and to avoid breaking them. However, should one wish to adopt a few dhutaṅgas beyond anybody's acknowledgement, it is possible to do it all alone. A few monks besides take determination not to let anyone know about their practice, thus solidly establishing within himself the certainty not to practice them owing to an unhealthy motivation.

In olden days, a bhikkhu practised the dhutaṅga that consists in eating only once a day (ekāsanika) since forty years, with no one ever coming to know about it. One day, someone saw him finishing up his meal, standing up and proceeding to instal himself at another spot. At this specific moment, he proposed him a piece of cake. As the Venerable politely refused it, the donor guessed for which reason, telling loudly: " You practise the dhutaṅga ekāsanika! " In order not to tell lies and not to disclose his practice, the bhikkhu preferred not to break it by accepting and by eating this piece of cake. As soon as he had ingested the cake, he again adopted this dhutaṅga.

The dhutaṅgas to be practised according to the status

Alone, a bhikkhu can practise the 13 dhutaṅgas. bhikkhunīs can only practise 8 of them, sāmaṇeras can only practise 12, sāmaṇerīs can only practise 7 and the laity can only practise 2, even 9, as their status or discipline doesn't enable them to adopt the others.

bhikkhus

A bhikkhu can adopt any of the 13 dhutaṅgas. If he wishes so, a bhikkhu can practise the whole 13 dhutaṅgas at once. To that sake, the best would be to exclusively dwell by a charnel that possesses at the same time the characteristics of a forest spot – remote from inhabited areas – and from those of a spot devoid of shelter and vegetation. However, he can also dwell in a forest during the first third of the night, on a spot devoid of shelter and vegetation during the second third of the night, and in a charnel devoid of the characteristics specific to the forest spots and devoid of shelter during the last third of the night.

We may wonder how to practise at the same time the dhutaṅga that consists in dwelling beneath a tree (rukkhamūla) and the one that consists in dwelling on a spot devoid of shelter and vegetation (abbhokāsika). Even though being the translation of the term " dwellling beneath a tree ", the main idea of the rukkhamūla dhutaṅga is not that much to adopt a tree, but to renounce to material comfort instead – likely to cause laziness to arise – and to all maintenance duties involved by residing in a building compound. Thus, the abbhokāsika dhutaṅga includes the rukkhamūla dhutaṅga. In the same day, the dhutaṅga that consists in renouncing to the residence in a building compound (rukkhamūla) and the one that consists in renouncing to spots provided with vegetation and shelter (abbhokāsika) do no prevent one from practising the one lying in dwelling " in a forest " (āraññika), as this later consists in not adopting a monastery situated into the deep forest. His only idea lies indeed in living remote from inhabited aeras, the residence on a recluse, isolated spot. On the contrary, it is possible to practise the abbhokāsika dhutaṅga or the rukkhamūla dhutaṅga without practising the āraññika dhutaṅga, for example, by dwelling beneath a tree situated in inhabited areas.

Bhikkhunīs

The 8 dhutaṅga the bhikkhunīs are able to practice are: paṃsukūla, tecīvarika, piṇḍapāta, sapadānacāri, ekāsanika, pattapiṇḍika, yathāsantatika and nesajjika.

The khalupacchābhattika dhutaṅga is obsolete to bhikkhunīs, as their vinaya forbids them to refuse food that is being served to them, even after having started to eat (according to the pavārito, see the pācittiya 35). They cannot practise the āraññika dhutaṅga as their vinaya forbids them to dwell in an isolated spot, without a bhikkhu monastery located close by (according to the ohīyana rule). Regarding the rukkhamūla, abbhokāsika and susānika dhutaṅga, Buddha does not authorize them to adopt them, as being women, these practices are too difficult and too dangerous. Moreover, a bhikkhunīs cannot proceed alone outside of the monastic complex. Supposing that it would be permitted to a bhikkhunīs to dwell on a spot remote from bhikkhu monasteries, accompanied with another bhikkhunīs, she would have it difficult finding another bhikkhunīs who agrees to practise the same dhutaṅga along with her, without referring to the fact that the main interest of the dhutaṅgas lies to practise them alone.

Sāmaṇeras

sāmaṇeras are able to practise the 12 dhutaṅgas; all to the exclusion of the practice that lies in confining oneself to three robes (tecīvarika), as, on the contrary of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs, they have no double robe at disposal. Admittedly, nothing does prevent sāmaṇeras from training into utilising a very limited number of robes, shawls or blankets. However, this will not be the object of the tecīvarika dhutaṅga.

Sikkhamānas and Sāmaṇerīs

The 7 dhutaṅgas that sikkhamānas and sāmaṇerīs are able to practise are: paṃsukūla, piṇḍapāta, sapadānacāri, ekāsanika, pattapiṇḍika, yathāsantatika and nesajjika.

They cannot practise the khalupacchābhattika, āraññika, rukkhamūla, abbhokāsika, and susānika dhutaṅga, and for the same reasons as bhikkhunīs can't and, regarding the tecīvarika dhutaṅga, for the same reasons as sāmaṇeras can't.

The laities

The 2 dhutaṅgas that the laity – nuns included – are able to practise are: ekāsanika (a single meal per day) and pattapiṇḍika (taking one's meal by means of a single recipient). However, a laity strongly inclined to the practice of renunciation, purity of the mind, and to a great confidence into the dhamma, can, following the example of bhikkhus, adopt two above mentioned extra dhutaṅgas, the khalupacchābhattika, āraññika, rukkhamūla, abbhokāsika, susānika, yathāsantatika and nesajjika dhutaṅga, which raise the total number of dhutaṅgas to 9.

However, the laity cannot practise the first four dhutaṅgas, as they do not wear any monastic robe and do not obtain their food by means of a bowl.

Ariyās and the dhutaṅgas

ariyās are beings who have inevitably practised the dhutaṅgas in this life or in a former rebirth. To have one's pāramīs sufficiently matured for the realisation of the dhamma, the practise of the dhutaṅgas is therefore inevitable. For this reason, we can say that " the practice of the dhutaṅgas is the path of ariyās ". The dhutaṅgas even constitute a training particularly auspicious to the realisation of nibbāna, given the fact that they offer the best conditions for the training into the 8 maggaṅgas – the basis of satipaṭṭhāna (the path that leads to nibbāna) – on one hand, and for the detachment from all obstacles to this training on the other.

There do exist numerous bhikkhus who are renown for their practice of the dhutaṅgas. Among others, in Buddha's time, regarding the practice of the āraññika and paṃsukūla dhutaṅgas, Venerable Mahā Kassapa was particularly renown (besides recognised by Buddha as being the best practitioner of the 13 dhutaṅgas of his sāsana); then were particularly renown for the observance of the āraññika dhutaṅga: Venerable Revata (in the forest of Khariravaniya), Venerable Tissa and Venerable Nāgita; was particularly renown for the observance of the dhutaṅga linked with the obtention and consumption of food: Venerable Mitta; were particularly renown for the observance of the nesajjika dhutaṅga: Venerable Sāriputtarā, Venerable Mahā Moggalāna, Venerable Cakkhupāla, etc.

These arahantas – such as all arahantas who practise the dhutaṅgas – haven't gone through the difficulties of these practices for their own benefit, as they no longer have anything to obtain for themselves (an arahanta has, by definition, no more ambition, neither motivation). They have practised the dhutaṅgas with the only aim of favorably making an example, inciting to the observance of this noble practice other bhikkhus who see them or would come to hear about them.

All Buddhas have also practised the dhutaṅgas in a remarkable manner, at one or several moments of their last existence. Thus, wise people, imitating Buddha, put into practice one or several of these dhutaṅgas.

   

   

The types of modern ascetics

                                       

There has previously been a false definition of asceticism. It was defined as rejection of the world. In fact, asceticism is the ascetic’s rejection of the world of the ascetic. Note that regardless of the type of ascetic, the only true way to cure asceticism is for the ascetic to live in a world which he accepts. This *can* be done through drugs, in the same way that a cocaine addict can achieve “happiness”. Yes, our wonderful medical practitioners really are as cynical as drug pushers. Take your pills!

Monks are old school. Nowadays asceticism has branched into several different types.

The mentally ill – mental illness is tied to your environment. Prisoners go to jail sane and leave jail not so sane. Likewise with any other torture victim. Mental illness is arguably the most extreme method of rejecting the world.

The virgin – the most intimate relationship with most environments is sexual – the virgin disavows intimacy and thus maintains a distance from his world. This is arguably a more extreme form than mental illness.

The nerd – note the overlap between several of these types. The nerd is a kind of walking social critic, far less subtle than the virgin.

The addict – the addict is nothing other than a despairing ascetic – he uses his addiction to replace his painful emotions.

The loser – once you reject your world, losing becomes the new Win.

The philosopher – he takes the next step with his asceticism – forming a new world for himself.

Those are the only “pure ascetics” as far as I am aware. Then there are the semi-ascetics:

The flamer/dandy – rejects part of his world.

The goth – likewise.

The freak – likewise.

The punk – likewise.

The geek – a nerd without the balls.

The hobo

ALL of these types amount to a kind of public criticism of the ascetic’s world. This makes it extremely easy to see how much dissent there is in society… simply track the percentage of humans who are ascetics.

Note one more thing about all of these types, however… most are individualistic. Few of them have strong group identities, although many do group in like-types. More so than ever before, asceticism is very culturally powerful. So powerful that political ascetics like Chomsky become popular. The future is looking more and more interesting.

Asceticism and the Contemporary World

What is asceticism? Asceticism is a strict, purposeful life, expressed in spiritual labors, that is, in prayer, contemplation, the directing of the mind toward God, frequently in conjunction with corresponding physical undertakings, and simultaneously with abstention from any negative activity and unnecessary natural satisfactions.

This does not mean that asceticism must be the lot only of certain desert-dwellers or monks ("ascetics"). The Christian faith itself is built on self-denial, which to a certain degree is asceticism.

God Himself placed a prohibition on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in paradise and by this showed the necessity of asceticism, an exercise of will and mind. And moderation in desires and urges, control of desires and urges, is necessary for each ordinary Orthodox Christian.

Having all this in mind, we can understand why the materialists, who do not recognize a spiritual principle in man, have always fought against asceticism. Materialism says: "Your nature alone can prescribe laws for you: do everything it demands and to which it draws you."

But at the present time there is a striking phenomenon taking place. On the one hand, by its way of life, our society (including, alas, many Orthodox people) completely rejects any form of asceticism: the non-observance of fasts, [1] the absence of zeal in prayer, private and public, and so forth. This on the one hand.

But on the other, we observe in our era, among the youth of Western Europe in particular, a kind of morbid enthusiasm for "Eastern religions", despite the fact that the entry of this youth into the cells, hidden here in Europe, of all these at times fanatical religions requires such an ascetic regimen of its adepts, that one can do little else than express amazement at its strictness.

We will cite two examples.

This is a typical working day of the young French followers of the "Hare Krishna" sect, which has a large private residence in the center of Paris, not far from the Champs Elysees. Reveille at 3:30; shower; prayer in the temple; reading of their scriptures; prayer beads and so forth. This goes on for two hours. Then follow special lessons, singing, and sacred dances. Again there is a service. At 8:30 in the morning, breakfast and the beginning of the working day. Travel through the city for missionary (propaganda) purposes and for the sale of the publications of the sect. Others work on a farm from which the sect receives provisions. Dinner at 12:30, consisting of milk, cheese and rice. Again, work and study. The day ends at 7:00 in the evening with a final service. No unseemly behavior is permitted.

There exists in Western Europe another sect, more well-known, the (so-called) "Disciples of Moon," which is of such a dangerous character that many families which have lost adolescent children to the sect have formed a defense committee against this movement which carries on intensive recruiting among youth.

[2] As our reader will see, the followers of the Moon sect also lead an extraordinarily strict and ascetic way of life. Reveille at 6:30; a half hour of prayer; breakfast; more prayer; studies. At 11 o'clock, departure for work or preaching. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, lunch. From 4:30 to 8 o'clock, there are again assigned tasks, mainly in the recruiting of new members. If you add it up, you will see that all together there are only a few hours of sleep a day; the rest of the time there is prayer, instruction, collection of contributions, and work. Here also, morals are characterized by an amazing strictness. Yet despite all this, there are young people who give up parents, family, studies and work, and become staunch followers of Moon.

At this point in our task it is not necessary to linger on these eastern sects, certainly of an openly anti-Christian orientation, which are now finding followers in Europe in almost all of the large cities. We will also not speak of those young people that leave Europe and settle in India and other neighboring countries, nor of those now in Europe that are enthusiastic not only about the methods of Yoga and Zen, but their philosophy as well. We mention all of this only to show that even the strictest asceticism does not represent a hindrance in the successful recruiting of new followers, but perhaps is even one of the attractive aspects of such movements.

The one thing that we may find of positive value in such a phenomenon is that it is a sign that at the present time, there is a certain alienation from materialism, a sign of the quest for something spiritual. This is the path of idealism, though it be false and of dubious value. But this tells us that in its quest, youth snatches at anything field out to it.

One of the former followers of the Krishna sect expresses herself in this way: "Give the youth an ideal, hope, something definite. To limit yourself only to criticism of one or another sect is not sufficient. You have to give something in exchange."

Inevitably the thought arises in a person who reads such lines: "But why doesn't this mass of people find what it is looking for in Christianity?" The answers may vary, but they are available. Now let us just recall the words of the Apostle, arising as never before in our consciousness, in view of everything that is going on:

"For the time will come," foretells the Apostle, "when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables" (II Tim. 4:3-4).

We must, however, observe that the enthusiasm for eastern sects is already diminishing at the present time. Without a doubt the reason for this is, first of all, the young people themselves, who have discovered the falseness, emptiness and futility behind the tempting facade.

Nevertheless, we can see an attempt to indoctrinate the consciousness with the possibility of uniting Christianity, with all the oriental pagan religions, if only by finding, here and there, identical ascetic methods. Thus, the thought is often expressed, for example, that so-called "Christian Yoga" is similar to spiritual "contemplation" in Orthodoxy.

And of course, there is a great danger in this. We see this first of all in the fact that searching humanity, having turned away from the Truth, from Christ, from the Holy Church, will look for something (as it will seem to it "identical") equivalent in pagan eastern religions.

And here we must remind you that true Orthodox spirituality differs completely from pagan "spirituality", from oriental "mysticism."

We believe that God is absolute and almighty, is the creator of everything; and that between creature and Creator there is a chasm. But man alone among the creatures strives for God as if he did not differ from Him. Only in God does he receive his blessedness. The fall of man became a wall across his path to God. And man could not overcome his fall through his own power. For this, man needed a savior. The gulf between God and man is overcome by God's love. And that God became man is the mystery of this overcoming. Now man can work on himself, although the path of purification is both long and difficult.

It is reached by various ways and methods: by prayer, fasting, struggle with the passions, partaking of the Holy Mysteries, and various spiritual exercises. This is a whole spiritual struggle. And this is all only the means, not the end. The end is purification from sin and a drawing closer to God.

True, we know instances in Sacred Scripture in which this path, at first glance, seems very short and simple. But this is only at first glance. In the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son, for example, the return to the Father is only the first step in the sinner's repentance. After this, the task of intensive work on himself will stand before him. Before the eyes of the apostles, Zacchaeus not only offered repentance, but also took upon himself a further spiritual struggle: the desire to change his life decisively.

And after this, constant abiding in God requires man's close attention. This is the main thing and not one or another ascetic method which at only the superficial glance can seem to be identical in both a Christian ascetic and a follower of the Hindu sect in Paris.

Generally speaking, Hinduism is the complete opposite of true Christianity. If the point of departure of Christian spiritual struggle is humility, that of Hindu ascesis is self-assertion, a feeling of one's own power. If in Christianity the personality, gradually growing and being perfected, may develop to infinity, in Hinduism, on the other hand, the personality is doomed to oblivion. The Holy Gospel shows us that perfection is in the fulness of love. But eastern religions deny the value of love, which, according to their teaching, is annihilated through the path of the self-annihilation of the personality.

The Christian, according as he progresses, grows spiritually: his feelings, desires, and thoughts become better. This is what the path of correct asceticism consists of. In Hinduism, on the contrary, the aim is the extinguishing of all desires, thoughts, and feelings. Everything dissolves in some kind of nirvana.

The purpose of Christian asceticism is purification from evil. We must achieve this in the period of our life on earth. This is the reason that time is highly valued in Christianity. Hinduism completely devalues time by its treacherous teaching of the transmigration of souls.

The art of sham asceticism of the false eastern sects that are now somehow attracting our youth consists in the establishment of oneself in complete repose, freeing oneself from thoughts and desires, becoming passive towards everything, and forgetting everything but one goal—self-deification. They have no other God. They place self in the foreground, for some kind of higher perfection, and choose for this various postures and movements, embark upon the difficult path of asceticism, select sacred dances, pray in time with their hearts... But further than this they do not wish to go. Purification from thoughts, from passions and from sin does not interest them: yoga may be practised immediately by any character that, amoral though he may be, is "deifying himself", fully satisfied with himself (that is, lacking humility).

[3] But along with such an attraction to asceticism, false though it be, there is also to be observed, as we pointed out at the beginning of this article, the opposite tendency: a rejection of all asceticism. Not long ago, a certain Roman Catholic publication with a large circulation, though of a very leftist orientation, spoke ironically of the struggles of St. Simeon the Stylite, whose memory we celebrate on the first of September. He received the monastic tonsure at the age of 18, and was the first of many ascetics to undergo his struggles on a pillar, a column. He was clairvoyant and by his prayers performed miracles; he reposed in Syria in 495 A.D., at 95 years of age. Even now, travellers can see the ruins of the church built in honor of the saint near his pillar.

There is nothing new in such an attitude on the part of a "modern" Roman Catholic journal towards the spiritual struggle of stylist, as well as towards asceticism in general. But it is characteristic of our times.

We can expect that someone will ask us:

"Why these hairshirts, these chains, these cells in which one can neither stand nor straighten oneself out? Why these pillars and standing on them for many years? Why life under the open sky, lying on the bare ground, subsistence on herbs and roots? Why these incessant prostrations and day-and-night chanting and prayer?"

We must answer thus:

Christian ascetics know what nature is, and to what degree its laws are obligatory for man. They acknowledge its creation by God, and its laws are divine laws. Then why do they go against nature? They are going not against nature, but against the derangement in their own natures, and especially against the corrupted will of man, which is incapable of holding him to the gratification of his needs within the bounds prescribed by nature. Before man became a sinner against the laws prescribed by divine revelation, he was a sinner against nature, or against the laws invested in it by the Creator. Everything in nature requires sustenance for the continuation of life, but only man is capable of turning nourishment into pleasure, which leads to a passion, the fattening of himself with food, resulting in loss of health.

Thus in order only to be true to nature, man must be an ascetic. Even the ancient pagan philosophers realized this. Is it possible not to be an ascetic for the Christian who desires to embody in his own distorted nature that high ideal of truly human life depicted for him in the Gospels? The ascetic eats and sleeps little, so that his body may not become fat and heavy, not breed nests of laziness and lustfulness, not become a putrid swamp. He prefers coarse foods to rich and sweet foods, because in using the former it is easier to maintain strict temperance. He is careful with wine, because it produces a disturbance of the blood, which stirs up the passions and excessive mirth, and unleashes the tongue to an immoderate degree.

Similar spiritual struggles are accessible to all, and we perform one when we deny ourselves, even if only during Great Lent or before Holy Communion.

But something much more is necessary.

Intense spiritual diseases, and especially chronic ones, as the Fathers express it, are healed by intensive remedies. Is it strange that zealots of spiritual purity, even after many efforts in the struggle with the passions, were troubled in their consciences by the onslaught of sin arising from the depths of the heart, and through a feeling of pain and suffering would direct their consciousness away from them? This is especially appropriate in the beginning of the fiery struggle of an inflamed soul with a chronic sinful habit. Only that person who has not begun to struggle with sin does not know what this struggle costs.

Furthermore, according to the teaching of the Apostle Paul, ascetics have transferred their struggle with evil from the realm of flesh and blood to the invisible realm of the very instigators of sin the evil spirits. Who can tell what cunning and what attacks of the invisible enemies they were responding to with their spiritual struggles, which we can view only from the outside?

Finally, if the bright horizon of eternal and blessed life is opened them through the action of grace, could they not intensify their struggles in order to come closer in spirit to the desired goal? But the Apostle Paul puts a limit to our curiosity in these instances with a single remark: "He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man" (I Cor. 2:15).

The higher ascetic spiritual struggles are the pursuit of those that have chosen them freely; but asceticism as a moral principle is accessible and necessary for every Orthodox Christian according to the measure of his strength and spiritual growth.

Magnifying our great saints—the holy desert dwellers, monks, and ascetics—and bowing before their struggles, we will as a consequence always remember that our Orthodox Faith is ascetic in itself, and that asceticism is necessary, in one degree or another, for all of us.

Endnotes

1. We mean fasting in the broad sense: the limiting of oneself by the acceptance of some kind of discipline. Orthodox fasting requires not only limitation In choice and quantity of food, but also in' the voluntary avoidance of the marital bed and, in the spiritual aspect, the struggle with all the passions. "Fasting bodily, let us also fast spiritually . . ." (From a stikhira of the liturgical beginning of Great Lent, which explains true fasting exactly.)

2. We set aside, of course, the political coloration of the Moon sect. Its pointed anti-communism may even be the reason why it is being opposed more energetically than other, analogous sects, which are nevertheless equally dangerous. "But why is it that they are not taking measures against the propagandists of the Maoist philosophy, who are working with impunity within the walls of the schools were our children are?" asked one of the parents on French radio…

3. For the fullness of mystic illumination, the ascetics of faith, as an indispensable condition, traversed the long path of ascesis and spiritual trial, ascending on it "from strength to strength," that is, gradually attaining a high degree of spiritual experience and knowledge. Let us ask ourselves the question—did St. Sergius of Radonezh, St, Seraphim, St. John of Kronstadt and the others honored by the Orthodox church engage in either astrology or the study of oriental Hindu or Tibetan mysticism? And has our Church been aware of the existence and practice of this mysticism in our days? Of course it has known and knows. But neither the monks of our Orthodox monasteries nor our ascetics ever made use of it, for their path was the path of the strictest New Testament Christianity, in which all such mysticism had become superfluous and unnecessary.

Cause your heart to die through asceticism

و أمته - بالزهادة

As we have already said: in order to survive, man is equipped with certain means such as desires towards possession, food, clothing, shelter, horses, social positions, and sexual drives. If man did not have these innate drives, he would not attain perfection.

But if these desires go beyond the status of means and justice and become aims by themselves, they would, no doubt, bring about irreparable losses and lead us toward the lowest of the low.

Although Islam considers one's beloved affairs as hasanah (good) and embellishment of God,  it blames too much enchantment with the world.

For this reason, Islam proposes the ethical principle of God-wariness to control excessive attachment to the differing manifestations of this world. Through this policy, Islam harnesses men's exceeding demands and lusts from one hand, and tames his aggressive spirit, on the other hand to the degree that he will say, as Imam ‘Ali (as) has said,

"مَا لِعَليٍّ وَلِنَعِيمٍ يَفنَى وَلَذَّةٍ لا تَبْقَى"

"What does ‘Ali have to do with transitory enjoyments and pleasures?" and he would agree with Hafiz: I am a slave to the high-mindedness of that person who is free from anything possessable.

The Essence of Asceticism In Islam

The word "zuhd" or "asceticism" means lack of desire and to abandon something. It is true that in the Qur’an and tradition the topic of asceticism and the lack of concern for this world is emphasized, and the world and its manifestations are blamed.

On the other hand, our religious leaders have had an ascetic approach, however.

The issue to be researched here is whether the essence of zuhd is the same as monastic life which exists among Christians, Buddhists, and some other nations? What is the philosophy of the Islamic asceticism?

Definitely, the Islamic asceticism does not imply monastic life. As we have said before, from the viewpoint of the Islamic logic, all aspects of life, including wealth, women, clothing, food and social position and the like, are just a means for man's perfection.

If these are used normally, not only will the world of other people be built, but the Hereafter will also be built; this is because

"وَابْتَغِ فِيمَا آتَاكَ اللَّهُ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ وَلَا تَنسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنْ الدُّنْيَا"

"And seek, by means of what God has given you, the future abode, and do not neglect your portion of this world”.

In fact, from the viewpoint of Islam, everything in this world is good and God has not created any bad thing. Thus, neither the world nor its manifestations are bad. The liking of this world is naturally given to man.

On the basis of these facts, we will see that the Holy Qur’an rejects monasticism, and recognizes it as one of the innovations of Christian monks, who erroneously put forward the existence of badness in the creation, and the conflict between this world and the Hereafter, and entered these issues into the religion of Jesus Christ (as). The prophet of Islam, too, has explicitly, rejected monasticism.

The Prophet of Islam prohibited any kind of these deviations when he saw them among Muslims. The following two samples would suffice:

a) One day, the wife of ‘Uthman Ibn Ma’dhun went to the Prophet (S), complaining about her husband. She said: O Messenger of God: My husband goes on fasting during the days and stays awake at nights in prayer. Upon hearing this, the Prophet, being irritated, went to ‘Uthman; he was at prayer. Seeing the Prophet, he stopped praying. The Prophet (S) told him: God did not appoint me to indoctrinate monasticism, but He appointed me for the indoctrination of an easy and moderate religion. I go on fasting, I pray and I sleep with my wife. Anybody who loves my religion should behave as I do. Marriage is among my sunnah (customs)"

b) One day three women came to see the Prophet (S). One of them complained that her husband did not eat meat; the second woman complained that her husband did not use perfumes; and the third woman said her husband did not go to bed with his wives. Upon hearing these complaints, the Prophet (S) hurried to the mosque, dragging his garment on the floor. After praising God, he said, "Why do some of my friends not eat meat, not use perfumes and not go to bed with their wives? But I eat meat, I use perfumes and I go to bed with my wives. Anybody who does not follow me does not belong to me."

In a story which is narrated in Nahj al-Balaghah, Imam ‘Ali (as) had gone to pay a visit to ‘Ala’ Ibn Ziyad. He had a discussion with Asim Ibn Ziyad. In this story monasticism is distinctively rejected. The story goes like this : When Imam (as) saw the huge mansion of ‘Ala’, he asked him: What is the use of this huge house here when you will need it in the Hereafter? If you want to have a big house like this in the other world, you have got to have guests here, meet your relatives and pay people what you owe them. In this case you will have a big house in the next world. Then ‘Ala’ said: “I would like to complain about my brother Asim”. Imam (as) asked: What is wrong with him? He answered: He wraps up a gown around himself and has said farewell to the world. The Imam ordered him to be brought to him. Imam ‘Ali (as) told him: “Satan has misled you. Do you not have mercy on your family? Do you think that God would dislike you to use the good things He has made permissible for you? You are too insignificant before God for that!”

Asim said to Imam ‘Ali (as): “You (too) put on rough garments and eat coarse food”. Imam (as) answered: “I am not like you. God has made it obligatory for the just leaders to make themselves like the indigent, so that the poor man’s burden of poverty is not unbearable for him.”

As we see from these texts: Islam opposes monasticism and the shunning of social responsibilities. Islam does not allow us to forget our social tasks; neither does it permit us to put on rough garments and abandon material pleasures altogether to engage in worship and asceticism.

Thus, by "Islamic asceticism" it is meant that man should live simply in order to carry out his individual and social responsibilities, and not to fear the hardships of life.

It is obvious that "Islamic asceticism" only makes a man do his social duties in proper ways and it is not to be taken to mean an approach which considers this world nasty or to suppose a contrast between this world and Hereafter or to shun responsibilities as is the principle of the monasticism.

Thus, Islamic asceticism is not inconsistent with being rich or having social positions. The point that a God-wary person should consider is that he should not love this life more than God or truthfulness. He should not sacrifice Divine aims for personal interests.

Some Examples Of Traditions

What we said above on Islamic asceticism is not a haphazard interpretation. It is a synopsis of different explanations given by books on tradition: Here are some of them:

a) The Prophet (S), in one of his maxims says:

"الزُهَادَةُ في الدُّنيا لَيسَت بِتَحرِيمِ الحَلالَ وَلا إِضَاعَةِ المالِ وَلكِنَّ الزُهَادَة في الدُّنيَا اَن لا تَكُونَ بِما في يَدِكَ أَوثَقَ مَنكَ بِمَا في يَدِ الله"

"Asceticism in this world is not to prohibit what is lawful or to leave wealth alone; rather, asceticism in this world is that you should not have more confidence in what is your hand than what is in the hand of God"

b) In Nahj al-Balaghah, Imam ‘Ali (as) describes asceticism in the following manner:

"الزُهدُ كُلُّهُ بَينَ كَلِمَتَينِ مِنَ القُرآن: قَالَ الله سُبحانَه "لِكَيْلَا تَأْسَوْا عَلَى مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا بِمَا آتَاكُمْ" فمن لم يأس على الماضي ولم يفرح بالآتي فقد اخذ الزهد بِطَرَفَيْهِ"

“The whole of asceticism lies within two phrases of the Holy Qur’an: God the Almighty has said: "So that you may not grieve for what has escaped you, nor be exultant at what He has given you” [Qur’an 57:23]

So one who does not grieve for what has passed and is not joyful over what is to come, has taken hold of both aspects of asceticism."

c) Elsewhere in Nahj al-Balaghah, we read:

"اَيُّهَا النّاسُ الزُّهَادَةُ قُصرُ الأمَلِ وَالشُكرُ عِندَ النِعَمِ وَالوَرَعُ عَن المَحارِم"

“O people! Asceticism is the curtailment of hope, thanking God for blessings, and the utmost self-vigilance in abstaining from what is unlawful”.

As you will notice, in each one of the three statements narrated from the Prophet (S) and Imam ‘Ali (as), one of the complex meanings of asceticism is brought up.

In the first sentence, after scolding the monks and hermits, who make God’s lawful blessings unlawful, and in this way, waste wealth, the great Prophet (S) mentions the spirit of asceticism as not to be a slave in the hands of social positions and lusts; rather, to prefer God over anything else.

In the second sentence, it is implied that from an ascetic’s point of view the world is a means and not an aim in itself. Thus, a truly ascetic man does not slit his shirt if he loses what he possesses and will not feel proud for what he has.

This lack of interest in the material life and being fond of getting God’s satisfaction is not in conflict with being affluent. It happens that one has everything, but loves none of in. In contrast, one is deprived of everything, but is fond of his walking stick, for instance.

In the third and last sentence, Imam (as) refers to three signs of asceticism:

1) To limit far-fetched hopes; this will lead to remember truthfulness and to forget one’s transitory interests.

2) To use God’s blessings in the right way; this will lead to the employment of all material and spiritual forces for God.

3) To avoid committing the Islamically unlawful affairs which hinder man to achieve perfection and which cause man and society to fall.

Two Interesting Historic Events

1. It is narrated that Mulla Ahmad Naraqi, the writer of the erudite book "Mustanad al-Shi’ah," and one of the great Shi’ah jurisprudents and the teacher of Sheikh Murtaza Ansari, had a big mansion. Once a dervish went to his mansion. Looking at Mulla’s big house, he started criticizing him, saying a great Shi’ah scholar should not possess such a huge house.

Based on Imam Sadiq’s statement: "It is not asceticism that you should not possess anything; rather, asceticism is that nothing should possess you,"

"لَيسَ الزُّهدُ اَن لا تَملِكَ شَيئاً بَل الزُّهدُ اَن لا يَملِكَكَ شَئٌ"

and also based on the fact that for a ascetic person this world is a means and not an objective, Naraqi asked the dervish what kind of life he preferred. He replied, "I prefer my own way of life which is freedom from possessing anything and involvement in journeys and worship"

In order for the dervish to realize that to own something does not imply being a slave to it, Naraqi asked him to accompany him on a long excursion. On the way, they sat besides a brook to take some rest. They took some loaves of bread, and then continued with their journey. Having traveled a little, Naraqi observed that the dervish was extremely upset.

Naraqi inquired about his uneasiness. The dervish said he had an ebony walking-stick, which he liked very much, but he had left it beside the brook.

Naraqi replied: “Look, I left all my possessions behind, and came on this trip with you. How do you make such a noise over a stick”? He then said: “Let us separate and each one go on his way”.

Naraqi left him, heading for his house.

Although this event might not have happened in Naraqi’s life, it clearly shows one fact: it is not asceticism for a man not to possess anything, but asceticism relies in the fact that nothing in this world should own and enchant us.

2. The Advice of Sayyid Ibn Tawus to his son:

In chapter 14 of his book Kashf al-Mahajjah, which is written for the education of his son, Sayyid Ibn Tawus has brought out the issue that being wealthy and ascetic are not contradictory. He writes:

"Muhammad, my son: May God make you aware of what you need, and make you turn your attention towards Him. Some people believe that your grandfather Muhammad (as) and your father, Imam ‘Ali (as) were poor. These people assume that these great men gave away their sustenance to others, and slept on empty stomachs. Therefore, they concluded that asceticism and poverty are the same and asceticism is in contrast to wealth.

But this assumption is far from being true: this is because the Prophets (as) were the most affluent people in the sense that they were given whatever they wished for. They were the richest of all because of their position as Prophets. These great men preferred people over themselves, however. They were content with what God had bestowed upon them.

Among your great grandfather’s assets given to your mother Fatimah (as) were Fadak and Awali, the annual revenues of which were 24.000 dinars according to one tradition and 70.000 dinars according to another tradition. But we should realize that Fatimah (as) and her husband and her father were among the greatest ascetics. A small portion of this revenue would suffice them. But remember that men of God never dispute on the amount of possession given them by God. Therefore, their employment of these resources is like the dominance of God over them. They are content with God's demands.

And I have seen in a history book written in 237 AH, a tradition from your father Imam ‘Ali (as), who said, ‘When I married Fatimah (as) I did not have a carpet, but today I have bequeathed such an amount of endowed property that if I divide it among all Bani Hashim, they would each get a big portion’.

And it is written in the same book: When Imam ‘Ali (as) bequeathed his endowed property which had the annual income of 40.000 dinars, he wanted to sell his sword. When he was selling it, he said, ‘If I had my dinner, I would not sell it.’ Another day, Imam ‘Ali (as) said, ‘Who is going to buy that sword of mine? If I had the price of this garment, I would not sell it.’”

The writer adds: “Imam ‘Ali (as) behaved like this when his income of the endowed property was 40.000 dinars. O my son Muhammad! I swore to God who is present everywhere and whose angels witness to this: In most cases, although your father Imam ‘Ali Ibn Musa (as) was managing this endowed property and its revenues by dividing it among people as alms, he was most of the time left with nothing. Some people, however, erroneously thought he donated from his saved treasure of gold. Unfortunately, people have thought wrongly about your father. This always happened when people assumed wrong things about Prophets and God's men.

If your father had the control over the entire world, he would definitely divide it among the needy. But God had decided to give him by piecemeal.

Thus, Muhammad, my son, you and your brothers and your offspring, follow the way of your fathers who have gone the right way and God, as He has said, is the greatest Giver.

In Ibrahim Ibn Mohammad Asha'ari's book, which is a reliable book, I have seen a tradition from Imam Baqir (as): When Imam ‘Ali (as) passed away he owed 800.000 dirhams. Then, Imam Hassan (as) sold one of the properties of Imam ‘Ali (as) for 500.000 dirhams and another piece of property for 300.000 dirhams to pay his debt. Imam ‘Ali (as) had run up into this debt because he did not leave anything from khums (statutory 20% Islamic levy on things) for himself and gave it all to the needy.

And I saw in Abdullah Ibn Beker's book that he had narrated from Imam Baqir (as): Husayn (as) was martyred while he was in debt and Imam ‘Ali Ibn al-Husayn (as) sold a piece of land to clear his debts.

And your ancestor Imam ‘Ali (as) left some endowed properties for his children from Fatima (as) and put the superintendence among his children.

Thus, how do some foolish people assume that Imam ‘Ali (as) was poor or erroneously think that God's men can not be affluent?

Has God created this world and Hereafter for people whom He does not love?”

The Philosophy Of Islamic Asceticism

Now that we understand the difference between asceticism and monasticism, we should recognize the philosophy of Islamic asceticism. How come Islam has allowed us to use all sorts of blessings including sustenance and livelihood and ornaments, but under the title of Islamic asceticism recommend to us not to use them excessively and advises us to have a simple life?

Definitely, Islamic asceticism is based on some valid reasons. And for these reasons it can rely on Islamic justice. Those reasons are the following:

1. To Tolerate Hardships But To Ask For Others Comfort

In a society where not many people enjoy the rudiments of life: some are rich, but the majority are poor, where some are affluent, but others suffer deprivation of all sorts, the best way to bridge this gap is for the rich to adopt not only a simple and easy life, but be ready to share what they have with the needy. They should even go so far as to let others eat when they themselves avoid eating, dress others when they don't have enough to wear, to let other have comfort when they themselves suffer.

This state of the affairs, which in books on ethics is interpreted as sacrifice, is felt to be more crucial in a society where deep gaps exist among social layers. For this reason, the Holy Qur’an praises the people of Medina (the Ansar) who gave priority to the needs of Muhajirin in the following manner:

"وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ"

“And they prefer (them) before themselves though poverty may afflict them”.

God has revealed:

"وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا"

"And they give food out of love for Him to the poor and the orphan and the captive" because Imam ‘Ali (as), Fatima (as), Imam Hasan (as) and Imam Husayn (as) went on fast for three consecutive days to give their food to the poor and the orphan and the captive.

Imam ‘Ali (as) in his sermon Al-muttaqin (The God-wary ones) mentions "Tolerating hardships oneself for the comfort of others" as one of the attributes of the true believers:

"نَفسُهُ في عَنَاءٍ وَالنَاسُ مِنهُ في رَاحَةٍ، اَتعَبَ نَفسَه لآخرَتِهِ وَارَاحَ النّاسَ مِن نَفسِهِ"

"His own self is in difficulty while people are at ease from him. He wearies himself for the Hereafter, while he gives people ease."

2. Showing Sympathy

Another symptom of the philosophy of the Islamic asceticism is showing sympathy towards the deprived layers of society. In a society where people are practically in two differing strata: the rich and the deprived, the poor suffer in two ways: they suffer their poverty; they also feel backward.

In such a society a responsible man is obliged, first of all, not to stay away and be an on-looker. He should try to improve the society in such a way as to establish social justice. Secondly, he should bridge this gap by sacrifice and by tolerating hardships in order to provide others with comfort.

When such a responsible man observes that the number of the deprived is so great that he can do nothing to provide them with financial help, he at least can do his best by sympathizing with them. In this way he can alleviate some of their sufferings. Of course, the necessity of such an approach is more felt by the religious leaders and governors as well. That is a good reason why Imam ‘Ali (as) lived simply during his caliphate.

Imam ‘Ali (as) in one place states:

"اِنَّ الله فَرَضَ على اَئِمَةِ العَدلِ اَن يَقدِرُوا اَنفُسَهُم بِضَعَفَةِ النّاسِ كَيلا يَتَبيّغَ بِالفَقِيرِ فَقرُهُ"

"God has made it obligatory for the just leaders to make themselves like the indigent, so that the poor man’s burden of poverty is not unbearable for him."

Imam ‘Ali (as) has stated somewhere else:

"أأقنَعُ مِن نَفسِي بِاَن يُقالَ أَمِيرُ المُؤمِنِينَ وَلا اُشَارِكُهُم في مَكَارِهِ الدَّهرِ او اَكُونَ اُسوَةً لَهُم في جُشُوبَةِ العَيشِ ... وَلكِن هَيهَاتَ اَن يَغلِبَنِي هَوايَ وَيَقُودَنِي جَشَعِي الى تَخَيُّر الاطعِمَةِ وَلَعَلَّ بِالحِجَازِ اَواليَمَامَةِ مَن لا طَمَعَ لَهُ في القُرْصِ وَلا عَهْدَ لَهُ بِالشَبَعِ او اَبِيتَ مِبطَانَا وَحَولِي بُطُونٌ غَرثَى وَاكبَادٌ حَرَّى"

"Should I be content to be called Amir al-Mu'minin, but not share with them (the deprived) in the adversities of time or be an example for them to follow in the difficulties of life?

…But it is impossible that my whims and desires should overcome me and my greed should lead me to select the best kinds of foods, when perhaps in Hijaz or Yamamah there is one who has no hope of getting a loaf of bread or one who has never experienced satiation. Should I sleep with a full stomach when around me there are hungry stomachs and livers dry with thirst?"

3. Broadmindedness And Struggle Against Splendor

As we have said, in order to live, man needs food, shelter, clothing, sex and the like. These needs are innately motivated. But sometimes we go to extremes and make use of these needs extravagantly. In this way the life objectives are compromised for luxuries in life. It is a fact that this kind of luxuries becomes a habit and build up one's secondary nature and man, compared with these needs, sees himself weak and vulnerable.

Some people fall prey to these luxuries to the extent that if they do not attain certain food, shelter, clothing, cosmetics, cars, positions, and women, life would be hell for them.

Therefore, to get these luxuries, such people would not stop committing any kind of mischievous affairs. These are slaves to their luxurious lives.

They would be impatient if they do not get what they wish for. They feel defeated if their wishes are not taken care of. They feel they are not natural human beings.

Thus, asceticism is to break these chains, to revolt against these whims and desires and to defeat these hurdles. Adopting a simple life, an ascetic releases himself from these shackles.

He is content with meager food and worn out clothes. He is not a slave in the hands of luxury. Hafiz [the Persian poet] says:

I am a slave to the manliness of that one who under this blue dome, is free from anything possessable.

Revolutions and constant struggles are always initiated by those who are ascetics in practice. Gandhi, for instance, broke the British spine of Imperialism with his famous struggles of non-cooperation and opposition just because he had broken the chains of luxurious life. The Viet Kong caused the biggest military and economic force of the world i.e., USA, to withdraw from their land because of their ascetic ways of life, being content with a fistful of rice for consecutive days, taking refuge in the fields. When we see Arabs suffered a great blow from Israelis in the third Israeli war against Arabs, we will not be surprised because the Egyptian planes took ice-creams from Cairo to the battle field for the Egyptian officers! A poet says:

In this world, a nation would become miserable,

If it gets used to the pleasures of life.

Imam ‘Ali (as), Broadmindedness, And Struggle Against Luxuries

One of the reasons for Imam ‘Ali's ascetic approach to life was his broadmindedness. He did not wish to get used to luxurious life which gradually weakens human spirit. He used to put on rugged cotton garments, eat barley bread and drink sour milk. His caliphate position was to him less important than his patched shoes.

Once a butcher proposed to him that he had good meat for sale and asked Imam ‘Ali (as) if he would buy some. Imam ‘Ali (as) replied he did not have money. The butcher said that Imam ‘Ali (as) could pay later. But Imam ‘Ali (as) replied: It is better that I owe to my soul (self) than owe to you.

In Nahj al-Balaghah, Imam (as) emphasized the motto of leaving this world, i.e., leaving pleasure-taking a lot.

Imam ‘Ali (as) says:

"الدُّنيا دَارُ مَمَرٍّ لا دَارُ مَقَرٍّ، وَالنّاس فِيهَا رَجُلانِ: رَجُلٌ بَاعَ نَفسَهُ فَأوبَقَهَا وَرَجُلٌ اِبتَاعَ نَفسَهُ فَأعتَقَها"

"This world is a place of passage, not a resting place, and people in it are of two types: one who sells his soul (through following his desires) and destroys it, and one who purchases his soul (through obedience to God) and liberates it."

Elsewhere, declaring the secret behind his abandonment of pleasure- seeking, Imam ‘Ali (as) states: "Get away from me, O world, for I left you free to go your way. I have slipped away from your clutches and escaped your snares; and I have avoided entering your slippery places….

"Get away from me; I swear to God that I will not be humbled to you so that you may abase me. I will not become submissive to you so that you may lead me (wherever you wish). By God…I have disciplined my soul to such an extent that it is pleased with a loaf of bread with salt as its stew."

Of course, asceticism in sympathy, sacrifice, manliness, and other aspects does not merely belong to Imam ‘Ali (as) alone. All Prophets, Imams, and true believers share this human trait. Through these characteristics, all of them have struggled with unjust social systems and have freed themselves from the slavery of evil habits and pernicious luxuries.

The Degrees Of Asceticism

Avoidance and the abandonment of life here in this world have different degrees. Sometimes it is possible for an ascetic person, due to the lightness of his responsibilities, or because of his tamed self, or because of the good conditions in which people live, to live a simple life away from luxuries. But at other times, the conditions might be in such a way as to force the ascetic man show more sympathy towards people and practice more severe restrictions on himself. Under such circumstances, an ascetic should negate for himself what is allowable for others.

This variety in the life conditions of Prophets (as) and Imams (as) and pious scholars made each one of them adopt a specific approach. One was like Solomon about whose case God says "We made jinn and men subservient to him” and the other was Jesus Christ (as) about whom God has said: "Honorable and chaste". The other one was Imam ‘Ali (as) who did not satiate himself even with barley bread and his dress had so many patches that he felt ashamed.

Another Imam like Imam Sadiq (as) used better clothing. For this he was often criticized by people not very bright. It is narrated, for instance, that Ibad Ibn Kathir al-Basri, protested to Imam for wearing a new dress, asking him "Did Imam ‘Ali put on this kind of dress?"

In reply, Imam (as) said, "First of all, I have bought a one-dinar dress (so it is not luxurious, but it is clean); secondly, Imam ‘Ali (as) used to live at a time when the conditions were different than those of ours. Those circumstances dictated him to put on rugged dress. People might ask me, 'Are you a hypocrite like Ibad?'"

On the other hand, people abandon pleasure-seeking in this world for the pleasures, houris or nymphs of paradise, and castles in the Hereafter: in fact, they are bargaining. But there are those who adopt an ascetic life just for God's sake and in this process they are "enchanted by Him" and they do not think of anything but "God". Sa'di, the great Persian poet says in this regard:

When I breathe my last breath I’m wishing to meet you,

I give up my life in the hope of becoming the earth of your abode;

When, on Doom’s Day, I raise my head,

I rise for Your discourse, I rise to look for You;

At a location where people gather from the two worlds,

I am looking for You, I’ll be Your slave;

If I sleep on the bedroom of nonexistence for a thousand years,

I’ll wake up to the odor of Your hair;

I’ll not describe the Garden, nor will I smell paradise flowers,

I won’t go after Houris, I’ll run to meet You;

I won’t drink paradise wine from the hand of Heaven’s cupbearer,

I won’t need wine, because I’m drunk with Your face;

I’d go to a thousand deserts with You,

And if you, Sa’adi, choose the wrong path,

You will still be heading for Him, anyway.

Imam Sadiq (as) emphasizes this stage of asceticism in the following words:

"وَهُوَ تَركُ كُلِّ شَئٍ شَغَلَكَ عَن الله مِن غَيرِ تَأسُفٍ عَلى فَوتِها"

"Asceticism means the abandonment of everything which diverts you from God without regretting its abandonment"

At the end of this discussion two expressions from two great philosophers of Islam will be presented here to illuminate the matter further:

Asceticism From The Viewpoint Of Khwajah Nasr Tusi:

Khwajah, may God bless him, in his erudite book "Awsaf al-Ashraf" writes on asceticism (zuhd) in Chapter two:

قال الله تعالى: "وَلَا تَمُدَّنَّ عَيْنَيْكَ إِلَى مَا مَتَّعْنَا بِهِ أَزْوَاجًا مِنْهُمْ زَهْرَةَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنيَا لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ وَرِزْقُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى"

“And do not stretch your eyes after that with which we have provided different classes of them, of the splendor of this world’s life, that we may thereby try them; and the sustenance given by your Lord is better and more abiding”.

Asceticism is the absence of desire and an ascetic (zahid) is one who does not take delight in what is worldly such as foods, drinks, clothing, houses, relishes, pleasures, wealth, position, company of kings, influence and attainment of anything which would part from him at his death. Asceticism should not be out of weakness or ignorance. It should not be for any reward. Anybody who possesses this trait is a genuinely ascetic person.

A truly ascetic man is one who is delighted in asceticism; he does not rely on asceticism for fear of the Hell or for God's reward in paradise, but solely for the sake of restraining his soul after knowing the benefits and consequences of each of these things mentioned. His asceticism is habitual and is without any trace of greed, hope or expectation, worldly or otherworldly. This quality becomes habitual by means of restraining the soul from seeking pleasures, and by making it accustomed to austerities so that indifference to desire becomes firmly established in it.

It is narrated in the story of ascetics: A man baked sheep's head and “palude” (sweet beverage containing starch jelly in the form of thin fibers) for thirty years without tasting either even once. People asked him the reason for this self-discipline. He replied: "When my soul desired these two things, I told it that it would never get any of them if it were to touch any of them. I did that so that it would not incline towards any pleasure whatsoever".

A person who adopts asceticism in this world in the hope of getting rewards in the next world is like a person who does not eat because of his meanness in the hope of getting food in the feast which he is invited to attend later. Or he is like a tradesman who does barter to make a profit out of his merchandise.

In wayfaring, the benefit of asceticism lies in the curtailment of preoccupations, so that the wayfarer is saved from being preoccupied with anything that would keep him from reaching his goal."

Asceticism In The Viewpoint Of Sheikh Al-Ra’ees

Avicenna in chapter nine of his erudite book "Al-Isharat wa al-Tanbihat" which deals with the stages is Sufism writes on the degrees of asceticism:

"المُعْرِضُ عَن مَتاعِ الدُّنيا وَطيِّبَاتِها يُخَصُّ بإسمِ الزُّهدِ... الزُهدُ عِندَ غَيرِ العَارِفِ مُعَامَلَةُ مَا كَأنَّهُ يُشتَرى بِمتَاعِ الدُّنيا مَتَاعَ الآخِرَةِ وَعِندَ العَارِفِ تَنَـزُّهَ مَا عَمَّا يَشْغَل سِرَّه عَن الحَقِّ وَتَكَبَّر عَلى كُلِّ شَئٍ غَيرَ الحَقِّ"

"Anybody who turns away from the enjoyments of the world and its pleasures is characterized by the term asceticism… Asceticism for one who is not a gnostic is a transaction in which the pleasures of the world are sold for the pleasures of the Hereafter. For one who is a gnostic, asceticism is keeping oneself aloof from anything that diverts one’s heart from the Truth and considering oneself above everything other than the Truth".

The Last and Final noticeable Point

At the end of this discussion, it is necessary to draw your attention to one important point in Imam ‘Ali's discourse: In this letter, Imam ‘Ali (as) said of exhortation: "Enliven your heart through exhortation", but in case of asceticism, he said: "Cause it (your heart) to die through asceticism." Does the pronoun “it” refer to the word “heart” used earlier in the text, which must be enlivened by exhortation, or does it refer to the aggressive self (soul), which is implied, and which the ascetic must mortify?

The fact is that the words "soul", "heart", "self", "breast", "fu’ad" (heart), "wisdom" and the like all refer to just one thing. In man there exists a truth which is neither matter nor does it have the properties of the matter. During seven years all the material molecules and particles of man completely change, but nevertheless, he carries on his duties all his life.

The same truth takes on different titles in different conditions: the words heart, breast (sadr) and wisdom are the titles used when this truth is taken to be abstract, not relying on matter. It is called Nafs (self) on the basis of the fact that to be realized it needs some means; it has different phases: commanding (Ammarah), blaming (lawwamah), satisfied (raziyah) and the like.

Thus, the pronoun “it” in the phrase “cause it to die” refers to the heart itself; it is because it wishes for a lot of things and should be controlled and its excesses should be hindered, or else it leads man to the lowest of the low.

Islam Rejects Excessive Asceticism and Monasticism

   

Following its genesis and growth, pseudo Sufism had many forms some of which were associated with excessive asceticism and monasticism.

There were Sufis who adopted and promoted as a solitary goal of existence excessive abstinence from worldly delights, frugality and voluntary poverty. They upheld that the source of all goodness in this world and in the Hereafter was in having little, or nothing, and in withdrawal from people, while the source of all evil in this world and in the Hereafter was in having much and in mixing with people. They, as a result, denied themselves many types of permitted food, drink, clothes and many other legitimate worldly delights, sometimes to the extent of becoming so frail that they were unable to perform basic errands. Some even went beyond mere bodily torture almost to the extreme of self-immolation. They refused to possess virtually anything, but often had to depend on other sources for their scant provisions, irrespective of whether those sources came from their family members, friends, or even government officials. In short, such people observed strict corporeal abject poverty erring not as much in aims and objectives as in means and methods. The whole operation, instead of enriching them spiritually, in the end impoverished them even further, both physically and spiritually.

There is nothing virtuous in coveted excessive asceticism, poverty and passivism, basing them on God's will and believing that nothing can and should be done about it. Those Sufis articulated several traditions of the Prophet (pbuh) to the effect that poverty was God's preference, and it was a source of the pride of the Prophet (pbuh) who always found much gratification in it. But those traditions are plain forgery as Islam in no way encourages deliberate excessive asceticism, poverty and passivism. Certainly, Islam sees neither affluence nor poverty as inherently either good or bad. Islam sees potential goodness as much in affluence as in poverty, just as it sees potential evil as much in affluence as in poverty. Consequently, the Prophet (pbuh) sought refuge in God from the evil of the trial of the affluence and from the evil of the trial of poverty, as well as from the evil of debt. (Sahih Muslim)

In reality, genuine asceticism (zuhd) and poverty (faqr) denote renouncing the unlawful; utter contentment (rida and qana'ah) with one's share of wealth which has been allocated to him by God, the source of all wealth; moderately enjoying the lawful property which God has granted to a person, profoundly thanking Him for it; subjecting the given wealth to worship purposes and for pursuing a higher spiritual order of things, that is to say, perceiving wealth as a means, rather than an end; keeping the spiritual ailments of greed, extravagance, showing off, haughtiness and miserliness at bay. In short, a person must be in total control of his assets, rather than being controlled by them. There is nothing wrong with legitimately possessing and using legitimate worldly goods. What is wrong is accumulating, misusing and finding irresistible the world and its lures.

Moreover, genuine asceticism and poverty signify one's destitution, impoverishment, and neediness in relation to God, as contrasted to "wealth" (ghina') which connotes "independence" and "self-sufficiency". Spiritual poverty is a true servant's enduring attribute, of which he is always proud, whereas true wealth, i.e., absolute independence and self-sufficiency, is an attribute of God alone. In this sense, the Qur'an declares: "O mankind! You are the poor in your relation to God. And God is the One free of all wants, worthy of all praise" (Fatir, 35:15).

The task of every true believer, therefore, is to actualize the honorable trait of "poverty", i.e., dependence on and need of God, and to never covet "wealth", in the sense of being self-reliant and independent from God and His guidance, light and compassion. A propensity to feeling genuinely rich, self-sufficient and independent while on earth is a serious spiritual deficiency and a fatal disease of the heart. God thus chastises those scoffers who as a result of their blasphemous designs and acts mocked the Prophet (pbuh) and his regular calls for charity and other forms of spending in the way of God. Given that those appeals were frequently metaphorically described as giving and loaning to God beautiful loans, the mockers used to say that God was poor and they were rich. The Qur'an says: "Verily God heard the taunt of those who say: "Truly, God is indigent and we are rich!" We shall certainly record their word and (their act) of slaying the prophets in defiance of right, and We shall say: "Taste the penalty of the scorching Fire!" (Alu 'Imran, 3:181).

Surely, it is this form of spiritual poverty that Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 465 AH/ 1072 CE) had in mind when he said: "Poverty is the hallmark of the friends of God (awliya'), a decoration of the pure (asfiya'), and the special feature with which God distinguishes His elect ones from among the righteous and the prophets. The poor are the elect servants of God and the carriers of His secrets among His creatures. By means of them God protects His creatures and due to their blessings He bestows livelihood upon them. The poor are the patient ones, who will sit next to God Most High on the Day of Judgment, as related in a report transmitted from the Prophet (pbuh)."

Someone asked a Sufi master Yahya b. Mu'adh (d. 258 AH/ 872 CE) about poverty and he answered: 'Its true reality is that the servant of God is independent of anything except God and its mark is not being in need of any provisions."

Someone also asked al-Junayd al-Baghdadi (d. 297 AH/ 910 CE): "Which state is better: being in need of God or being satisfied with God? Al-Junayd responded: "When one's need in God is sound, then one's complete satisfaction with God is sound too. Therefore, you should not ask which of them is better, for one cannot be perfected without the other."

Thus, a Sufi master Sumnun b. Hamzah (d. 290 AH/ 903 CE), when asked about the meaning of Sufism, replied: "Sufism means that you own nothing and nothing owns you."

Along those lines, some differences between the sincere and false Sufis have been marked out by a Sufi Abu Hamzah al-Baghdadi (d. 269 AH/ 883 CE), as narrated by Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri: "One sign of the sincere Sufi is that he is poor after having been wealthy, that he shows humility after having been glorified, and that he seeks anonymity after having experienced fame. As for the sign of the false Sufi, he enriches himself with (the things of) this world after having been poor, aspires to glory after having been humiliated, and seeks fame after anonymity."

Closely related to excessive asceticism and poverty was monasticism. While there were many Sufis who demonstrated an inner-worldly, community-centered religious attitude, recognizing their obligations towards their families and the society around them, there were other Sufis, on the other hand, who adhered to an extreme, exclusivist type of piety which promulgated seclusion, self-sufficiency, and the renouncing of worldly pursuits so that one can fully devote one's self to spiritual work.

One of the reasons often cited in support of complete physical and mental seclusion and withdrawal from the world, was many people's deterioration in faith, loss of moral principles, and the increasing corruption of the Muslim political leadership firstly under the Umayyad and then under the Abbasid government. Such developments were viewed as tribulations or afflictions (fitnah pl. fitan) about which the Prophet (pbuh) spoke much and warned against, and during which fleeing in order that religion be safeguarded, is even recommended. The Prophet (pbuh) said: "A time will come that the best property of a Muslim will be sheep which he will take on the top of mountains and the places of rainfall (valleys) so as to flee with his religion from afflictions." (Sahih al-Bukhari)

Also: "There will be afflictions (and at the time) the sitting person will be better than the standing one, and the standing one will be better than the walking, and the walking will be better than the running. And whoever will look towards those afflictions, they will overtake him, and whoever will find a refuge or a shelter, should take refuge in it." (Sahih al-Bukhari)

Even during the Prophet's time, some people were primed to sow the seeds of excessive asceticism along with monasticism, but were decisively stopped. They were asked rather to follow the Prophet's most righteous tradition in religion, and not to deviate therefrom. What they were up to was an out-and-out violation of this Islamic spirit. Thus, it has been narrated that a group of three men came to the houses of the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) asking how the Prophet (pbuh) worshipped (God), and when they were informed about that, they considered their worship insufficient and said: "Where are we from the Prophet as his past and future sins have been forgiven." Then one of them said: "I will offer the prayer throughout the night forever." The other said: "I will fast throughout the year and will not break my fast." The third said: "I will keep away from the women and will not marry forever." God's Messenger (pbuh) came to them and said: "Are you the same people who said so-and-so? By God, I am more submissive to God and more afraid of Him than you; yet I fast and break my fast, I do sleep and I also marry women. So he who does not follow my tradition in religion, is not from me (not one of my followers)." (Sahih al-Bukhari)

In the same vein, God censures the People of the Book for committing various excesses in religion which led many of them to blasphemy: "O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion; nor say of God aught but the truth" (al-Nisa', 4:171).

God also charges the Christians with inventing monasticism which was not prescribed for them, even though they might have done so with some good and sound intentions: "Then, in their wake, We followed them up with (others of) Our messengers: We sent after them Jesus the son of Mary, and bestowed on him the Gospel; and We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy. But the monasticism which they invented for themselves, We did not prescribe for them: (We commanded) only the seeking for the good pleasure of God; but that they did not foster as they should have done. Yet We bestowed, on those among them who believed, their (due) reward, but many of them are rebellious transgressors" (al-Hadid, 57:27).

This verse criticizes the Christians in two ways: first, they invented things in their religion, things which God did not legislate for them. The second is that they did not fulfill the requirements of what they themselves invented and which they claimed was a means of drawing near to God.

The Prophet (pbuh) said that there is no monasticism in Islam. Islam's monasticism is jihad (struggle) in the cause of God, in both the private and public domains, and with one's both inner and outer enemies. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir) It was because of this underlining character of Islam, surely, that after Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had received in the cave of Hira his first revelation, and with it his appointment as a messenger of God to people, where heretofore he used to spend long periods contemplating and reflecting on the spiritual depression and failure of the world around him, he subsequently never returned to the cave. He did not return because Islam is not a religion of isolation and seclusion to be practiced away from the masses and the pressing realities of life. The Prophet (pbuh) thus proclaimed that a Muslim, who mixes with people and puts up with their provocations and disturbances, is better than a Muslim who does not mix with people and does not put up with their harrowing actions. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi)

Islam rejects monasticism because - as Abdullah Yusuf Ali emphasized -- "God's Kingdom requires also courage, resistance to evil, the firmness, law, and discipline which will enforce justice among men. It requires men to mingle with men, so that they can uphold the standard of Truth, against odds if necessary. These were lost sight of in monasticism, which was not prescribed by God...God certainly requires that men should renounce the idle pleasures of this world, and turn to the path which leads to God's good pleasure. But that does not mean gloomy lives, nor perpetual and formal prayers in isolation. God's service is done through pure lives in the turmoil of this world. This spirit was lost, or at least not fostered by monastic institutions. On the contrary a great part of the struggle and striving for noble lives was suppressed."

Thus, in authentic Sufism, retreat and seclusion (khalwah and 'uzlah) -- as explained by such Sufi masters as al-Junayd al-Baghdadi, Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri and Abu Nasr al-Siraj al-Tusi (d. 378 AH/ 988 CE), to name but a few - do not mean going away from inhabited places. On no account are the said concepts tantamount to monasticism. The essence of retreat and seclusion is to isolate blameworthy traits in order to substitute the divine names for them. Once when a question was posed as to who the gnostic ('arif) is, the answered was that he is a "creature distinguished", that is, someone who appears to be together with people, but is inwardly separated, or withdrawn, from them. Abu Yazid al-Bistami (d. 261 AH/ 875 CE) said that in a dream he asked God how he can find Him, and he was counseled: "Leave yourself and come." Also, a man asked Dhu al-Nun al-Misri (d. 243 AH/ 857 CE): "When will withdrawing from the world be the right course for me?" He answered: "When you are capable of withdrawing from yourself."

It follows that no more than partial and temporary physical withdrawal from the world and its legitimate delights, albeit only as an educational and training phase towards attaining perfect retreat and seclusion (khalwah and 'uzlah) whereby a person confirms himself in intimacy with God alone, is acceptable. In this case, one's withdrawal from people means separation from them so that they will be safe from one's evil, which indicates one's thinking little of one's ego. A person must not be too obsessed with protecting himself from people's evil, which, on the other hand, could indicate one's thinking that he is better than other people. A monastic man is reported to have said that he withdrew himself from people because he thought that his ego was like a dog that injured them, so he took it out from among them so that they may be safe from it. Accordingly, "one of the rules of withdrawal is that whoever goes into seclusion must acquire the knowledge that makes his commitment to unity (tawhid) firm, so that Satan cannot seduce him through the imagination. Then he should acquire enough knowledge of the divine law (Shari'ah) that he is able to fulfill his religious duties so that his undertaking may be built of definite and sure foundations."

It would be a mistake to think that the wickedness of human nature can be eradicated by means of hunger and other forms of bodily torture. Some people retire from the world and dwell in caves, fancying that solitude will deliver them from their passions and cause them to share in the mystical experiences of the saints, but the fact is that hunger and solitude, if self-imposed and not the result of an overpowering spiritual influence, are positively harmful. Abu Nasr al-Siraj al-Tusi said that he knew instances of young men who reduced themselves to such a state of weakness that they had to be nursed for several days before they could perform the obligatory prayers. Others castrated themselves in the hope of escaping from the lust of the flesh. This is useless and even injurious, inasmuch as lust arises from within and is incurable by any external remedy. Others imagined that they show sincere trust in God (tawakkul) when they roam through deserts and wildernesses without provision for the journey, but real tawakkul demands previous self-discipline and mortification.

Finally, when Abdul Qadir al-Jilani discoursed about withdrawal from the world into seclusion, he, much like other Sufi masters, stressed that there are two states of seclusion: the exterior and interior state. About the former, he said that it means a condition where a man decides to withdraw himself from the world, imprisoning himself in a space away from other people, so that people in the world are saved from his undesirable character and existence. And about the interior seclusion, or the inner meaning of the concept, Abdul Qadir al-Jilani said that it is the exclusion from the heart of even the thought of anything that belongs in the realm of the worldly, of evil and of the ego.

Asceticism is the practice of self-denial in an attempt to draw closer to God. It may include such disciplines as fasting, celibacy, wearing simple or uncomfortable clothing, poverty, sleep deprivation, and in extreme forms, flagellation, and self-mutilation.

The term comes from the Greek word askḗsis, which means training, practice, or bodily exercise.

Hindu and Buddhist Asceticism

The English term asceticism derives from the Greek askesis, originally meaning "to train" or "to exercise," specifically in the sense of the training and self-denial that an athlete undergoes to attain physical skill and mastery over the body. The Stoics adopted the word to refer to the moral discipline of the sage who learns, through self-mastery, how to act freely—how to choose or refuse a desired object or an act of physical pleasure at will and how to control the emotions with reason. Plato and the neo-Platonic philosophers also used the term in the sense of the denial of "lower" sensual desires in order to cultivate "higher" spiritual traits.

The word was then passed on from the Greeks to early Christians in this sense of self-control over physical and psychological desires in favor of spiritual ideals or goals. Asceticism has come to function cross-culturally to refer to a whole host of activities in the religions of the world. Most religions have at least some practices that can be deemed ascetic: fasting, celibacy, seclusion, voluntary infliction of pain, bodily mutilation, temperance or complete abstinence from intoxicants, renunciation of worldly goods and possessions, and, in some cases, religious suicide. Asceticism can also include the cultivation of moral qualities requiring self-restraint and discipline, such as patience and forbearance. One sometimes reads of an "inner asceticism," which involves various practices where one learns to be "in the world, but not of it."

Ascetic practices are engaged in for a variety of ends. Many traditions encourage or demand asceticism at periodic or designated times of the religious calendar, usually for purification or preparation for a significant ritual event. Fasting and celibacy are particularly common practices used to this end. Most rites of passage or life-cycle rites also require some form of self-denial and self-discipline on the part of the person undergoing the ritual. Ascetic practices as forms of penance are also very frequently prescribed for expiation of sin or impurity. In some cases, ascetic practices are employed as a sort of sacrifice to the deity or powers one is trying to influence to obtain fulfillment of a request, while in other instances asceticism is seen as meritorious in general, leading to or ensuring a good result in this world or the next.

Many religions have within them an elite group of specialists, renouncers or monastics, who maintain an ascetic lifestyle more or less continuously. These "permanent" ascetics may be marked by their special appearance (distinctive clothes or robes, or no clothes at all; long, uncut hair or heads completely shorn of hair; the possession of certain characteristic implements or items, such as a begging bowl or staff; or in some extreme cases, signs in the form of physical mutilation, such as castration). They may be associated with particular locales (monasteries or other isolated and secluded areas, such as forests, deserts, jungles, or caves; or a mandate to wander homeless) to further indicate that they have separated themselves from ordinary society. Ascetic techniques in many traditions are said to bring magical or supernatural powers.

While asceticism is a feature of virtually every religion, it plays an especially prominent role in the three principal Indian religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. All three of these traditions originated at more or less the same time and out of the same religious and philosophical milieu. In the middle centuries of the first millennium b.c.e., many individuals and groups known collectively as "wanderers" (shramana s) arose in India to oppose certain features of the older Vedic religion and to advocate new ideas, methods, and goals. Most wanderer groups—especially those responsible for the formation of the new religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism—shared the belief that this world has suffering and potentially endless rebirth. This negative evaluation of the world came to be called samsara. All three religions also posited the new religious goal of an escape or release from this cycle, variously called moksha ("liberation"), nirvana ("extinguishing" of suffering and rebirth), or kevala ("isolation" or "perfection").

Samsara is believed to be perpetuated by desire, karma, and worldly life in general. The quest for liberation from samsara thus entailed asceticism and renunciation, and such practices became central to all three of these Indian religions. Meditation techniques, yoga, austerities of various sorts all were developed to further the end of disengaging from the world of sensual desires, and this in turn led to the final goal of release.

Asceticism in Hinduism

Asceticism in the form of yoga and meditation possibly goes back to the earliest period of Indian history. Seals depicting a figure sitting in what looks like a yogic pose have been found at sites of the Indus Valley Civilization dating to the second millennium b.c.e. In the texts of the early Vedas (c. 1500–c. 1000 b.c.e.), ascetic practices appear in a variety of contexts. References are made to long-haired silent sages (muni s), clad in soiled yellow garments or naked, who are depicted as having supernatural powers, acquired perhaps as a result of their ascetic practices. The early texts also tell of the shadowy wandering ascetics (vratya s), who seem to have also practiced physical austerities.

The Vedas in some places say that the deities gained their status, or even created the entire universe, through the power of their inner, ascetic heat (tapas ), acquired through the rigorous practice of physical and spiritual self-discipline and mortification of the body. The term tapas derives from a Sanskrit root meaning to heat up or burn, and refers to any one of a variety of ascetic methods for achieving religious power. In the Rig Veda, Indra is said to have achieved his divine place through the practice of asceticism and the generation of this powerful "heat," while elsewhere in that ancient work are encountered cosmogonic hymns that attribute the origins of the universe to the Primal One who creates by "heating up ascetic heat." The metaphysical qualities of both truth and order are said to have derived from ascetic heat, and the ancient Indian seers (rishi s) also were supposed to have achieved their powers through ascetic heat.

This notion of ascetic heat as a creative, or even coercive, religious force was to persist in Indian religious thinking through subsequent centuries to the present. One may gain ascetic heat through a variety of ascetic techniques, including fasting, chastity, and various yogic techniques such as breath control (pranayama ), and through it the adept can procure tremendous supernatural powers and even the status of a god. In the Upanishads, epics, and other Sanskrit texts one often learns of various ascetics who force their way into heaven and become gods through the power of their ascetic heat. Deities such as Shiva were especially associated with this power of ascetic heat, derived from proficiency in yoga, meditation, and extreme austerities.

Various classes of ascetics (tapasvin s, "specialists in the practice of tapas ") eventually arose in Hindu India and are sometimes enumerated. They are mainly differentiated by the form of austerities they engage in. Some ascetics, for example, stay totally stationary for years at a time or remain standing or in water for weeks on end. Some ascetics subsist solely on fruits, wild plants, and roots, or they live only on grain left in the fields. Among the most famous are ascetics who practice the "five fires" ritual (building four fires around themselves, with the sun as the fifth) and "spike-lying" ascetics who sleep on beds of nails.

A second strand of asceticism within the Hindu tradition might better be termed "renunciation." Such renunciation can be either tyaga (relinquishing a desire for actions to produce effects) or samnyasa (abandoning family, social, economic life, and the ritual activity associated with the householder's way of life), in order to pursue single-mindedly the ultimate goals of religion. World renouncers seem to have been a feature of Indian religious life since very early times. Already mentioned above are the silent sages and wandering ascetics discussed in the Vedas. Later texts depict a wide variety of renouncers, hermits, and ascetic "orders" living in the jungles and forests. Among such ascetics were those who, with or without their wives, live on wild fruits and plants and maintain a ritual sacrificial fire; those who are "god-possessed" but perform the Vedic rituals; those with matted hair who wear bark clothing; those who sleep on the ground, eat only what drops from trees and plants, and regulate their meals according to the waxing and waning of the moon; those who wander from one monastery to another, eating only eight mouthfuls of food per day; those who remain naked, live under trees or in graveyards, and remain indifferent to what they eat or receive from others; renouncers who wear red and beg only at the homes of high-caste Brahmins; and radical ascetics who do not remain more than a day in any one place and live on cow urine and feces.

Renunciation (and the values and practices associated with it, especially nonviolence [ ahimsa ], vegetarianism, lack of possessions, and begging for a living) came to play an enormously influential role in Hinduism from the time of the Upanishads onwards. Not only were there dedicated ascetics and renunciates who committed their lives to this kind of religious practice; even those who chose to remain householders were influenced by renunciatory values. From a very early date, then, Hinduism was shaped by asceticism and renunciation.

Yet the Hindu tradition also had dissenting voices. The religion was somewhat divided about the value and necessity of asceticism and the renunciatory lifestyle. Some ancient texts condemn renunciation in general. (In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, one of the heroes of the epic goes so far as to say that renunciation is only for those who have failed in worldly affairs.) More often, texts condemn renunciation by householders—those with families to support and occupations to fulfill.

Indeed, Hindu texts written in the wake of the wanderer movement often extolled the householder's life of marriage, reproducing, and raising children. In the Dharma Sutras the householder stage is sometimes said to be the only legitimate or best stage of life—better even than the stage of pursuing the ultimate religious goal of final liberation from rebirth. Those in all other stages of life (the student, forest dweller, and world renouncer) depend on the householder, in part because it is the householder who feeds or donates to them when they beg from him:

A householder alone offers sacrifices. A householder afflicts himself with austerities. Of the four stages of life, therefore, the householder is the best. As all rivers and rivulets ultimately end up in the ocean, so people of all stages of life ultimately end up with the householder. As all creatures depend on their mothers for their survival, so all mendicants depend on householders for their survival. (Vasishtha Dharma Sutra, 10.14–16, quoted in Olivelle, p. 93)

As another text puts it, when "carried out with zeal," the householder stage of life procures both happiness in this life and heaven in the next:

Just as all living creatures depend on air in order to live, so do members of the other stages of life subsist by depending on householders. Since people in the other three stages of life are supported every day by the knowledge and food of the householder, therefore the householder stage of life is the best. It must be carried out with zeal by the man who wants to win an incorruptible heaven [after death] and endless happiness here on earth. (Manu, 3.77–79)

Nevertheless, one also finds ascetic and renunciatory values—especially nonviolence (ahimsa ), but also nonpossession and ascetic heat—included in ethical lists that seem generally applicable to all, no matter what stage of life they are in. Indeed, even the householder's life came to include certain kinds of austerities, especially as a way of penance and cleansing one's conscience: "If his mind-and-heart is heavy because of some act that he has committed, he should generate the inner heat [ tapas ] [prescribed] for it until he is satisfied.… Those who have committed major crimes and all the rest who have done what should not be done are freed from that guilt by well-generated inner heat" (Manu, 11.234, 240).

From an early age in the history of Hinduism there was also a recognition that one could live two basic kinds of religious lives within the boundaries of the religion: a life of engagement and a life of disengagement. Both were usually regarded as legitimate (although some texts do weight one or the other more heavily), and both were accorded Vedic authority and pedigree. Both were also generally regarded as efficacious—according to the following text, engagement leading to a state of equality with the gods, and disengagement to a transcendent condition beyond the world of samsara :

There are two kinds of Vedic activity: the one that brings about engagement [in worldly action] and the rise of happiness, and the one that brings about disengagement [from worldly action] and the supreme good. The activity of engagement is said to be driven by desire in this world and the world beyond; but the activity of disengagement is said to be free of desire and motivated by knowledge. The man who is thoroughly dedicated to the activity of engagement becomes equal to the gods; but the man who is dedicated to disengagement passes beyond the five elements. (Manu, 12.88–90)

Reconciling these two apparently different modes of religious life was not always easy, however. On the face of it, the life of engagement and the life of disengagement appear to be incompatible—the one involved in the world of activity and karma, and the other attempting to renounce such activity and free oneself of karma.

One of the principal methods for synthesizing the two was the system of the four stages of life (ashrama s)—perpetual student, householder, forest dweller, and world renouncer—developed especially in the Dharma Sutras. In some texts the four states of life seem to have been regarded as four different types of life that a student could pursue after study with a teacher. In other cases, however, the early authorities insisted that there is only one legitimate stage of life, that of the householder. Finally, however, the tradition settled into conceptualizing the system of stages of life as progressive and more or less incumbent upon all upper-caste Hindus. This framework of stages of life could then be used to affirm life in the world (by emphasizing that all must pass through the householder stage of life before renunciation) while still incorporating the values and practices of asceticism into the ideal life of the Hindu practitioner. Three of the four classical stages of life emphasized ascetic practices, as will be seen, while the system also validated, and indeed insisted upon, the legitimacy of and need for the nonrenunciatory householder stage.

In the ideal structure laid out in Hindu texts, the first stage of life is that of a student. A young boy is given over to a teacher (guru ), whom he lives with and serves for many years while studying the sacred Vedas under the teacher's guidance. The lifestyle assigned to this stage of life is one of austerity, asceticism, and discipline. Not only should the student remain chaste for the duration of this period; he should also observe a variety of other restraints and avoidances:

The chaste student of the Veda who lives with his guru should obey these restraints, completely restraining the cluster of his sensory powers to increase his own inner heat.… He should avoid honey, meat perfume, garlands, spices, women, anything that has gone sour, and violence to creatures that have the breath of life; anointing [his body with oil], putting make-up on his eyes, wearing shoes, and carrying an umbrella; desire, anger, and greed; dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments; gambling, group arguments, gossip, telling lies, looking at women or touching them, and striking another person. He should always sleep alone and never shed his semen, for by shedding his semen out of lust he breaks his vow. (Manu, 2.175–80)

Another text gives a slightly different list of observances, vows, and practices, but similarly emphasizes the importance of an austere life dedicated to self-restraint, the cultivation of virtue, and obedience to the teacher:

Now the rules for the studentship. He shall obey his teacher, except when ordered to commit crimes which cause loss of caste. He shall do what is serviceable to his teacher, he shall not contradict him. He shall always occupy a couch or seat lower than that of his teacher. He shall not eat food offered at a sacrifice to the gods or the ancestors, nor pungent condiments, salt, honey, or meat. He shall not sleep in the daytime. He shall not use perfumes. He shall preserve chastity. He shall not embellish himself by using ointments and the like. He shall not wash his body with hot water for pleasure. But, if it is soiled by unclean things, he shall clean it with earth or water, in a place where he is not seen by a guru. Let him not sport in the water whilst bathing; let him swim motionless like a stick.… Let him not look at dancing. Let him not go to assemblies for gambling, etc., nor to crowds assembled at festivals. Let him not be addicted to gossiping. Let him be discreet. Let him not do anything for his own pleasure in places which his teacher frequents. Let him talk with women so much only as his purpose requires. Let him be forgiving. Let him restrain his organs from seeking illicit objects. Let him be untired in fulfilling his duties; modest; possessed of self-command; energetic; free from anger; and free from envy. (Apastamba Dharma Sutra, quoted in Embree, pp. 84–86)

Also among the duties laid out for those in the student stage of life is begging for a living—more precisely, begging and then turning over the proceeds to the teacher. Begging, for the religious student and other renunciates who legitimately live by such means, was said to be like fasting:

He should fetch a pot of water, flowers, cow dung, clay, and sacrificial grass, as much as are needed, and go begging every day. A chaste student of the Veda, purified, should beg every day from the houses of people who do not fail to perform Vedic sacrifices and who are approved of for carrying out their own innate activities. He should not beg from his guru's family nor from the relatives of his mother or father, but if he cannot get to the houses of others he should avoid each of these more than the one that precedes it. And if there are none of the people mentioned above, he should beg from the whole village, purified and restrained in his speech, but he should avoid those who have been indicted.… When he is under the vow [of a chaste student] he should make his living by begging, nor should he eat the food of just one person; when begging is the livelihood of a person under a vow it is traditionally regarded as equal to fasting. (Manu, 2.182–85, 188)

When the student reaches marriageable age, he should take a wife and start a family, eschewing, by and large, renunciatory and ascetic practices in favor of the pursuit of private gain (artha ) —understood as material prosperity, self-interest, political advantage, and in general getting ahead in the world. Hinduism thus recognizes making a good living (in an acceptable occupation) and taking care of one's family as important and indeed religiously enjoined goals of life. Private gain is listed as one of the three "ends of life" in Hindu texts, the other two being the pursuit of religious duty (dharma ) and the pursuit of pleasure (kama ). And while following the dictates of religious duty is obviously of great importance for one's spiritual well-being and can involve certain ascetic practices, especially for purification and penance, the pursuit of pleasure and creature comforts is to be fully embraced in the householder stage of life. In some texts, private gain is in fact the most important of these ends of life: "Of the three ends of human life, material gain is truly the most important.… For the realization of religious duty and pleasure depend on material gain" (Artha Sastra, 1.7).

But, according to the scheme of the ideal stages of life, when the householder has completed this stage of life (upon the birth of grandchildren), he should begin to withdraw from the world and once more cultivate a more ascetic lifestyle. After finishing the life of a student and after marrying and raising a family as a householder, a man may enter the third stage of life, that of the forest dweller. This stage of life, like that of the student, is characterized by ascetic practices and detachment from the world, including the renunciation of cultivated food (in favor of wild food that grows in the jungle) and of all possessions:

After he has lived in the householder's stage of life in accordance with the rules in this way, a twice-born Vedic graduate should live in the forest, properly restrained and with his sensory powers conquered. But when a householder sees that he is wrinkled and gray, and [when he sees] the children of his children, then he should take himself to the wilderness. Renouncing all food cultivated in the village and all possessions, he should hand his wife over to his sons and go to the forest—or take her along.… He should eat vegetables that grow on land or in water, flowers, roots, and fruits, the products of pure trees, and the oils from fruits.… He should not eat anything grown from land tilled with a plough, even if someone has thrown it out, nor roots and fruits grown in a village, even if he is in distress [from hunger]. (Manu, 6.1–3, 13, 16)

Subsistence on gathered food that grows naturally and spontaneously in the wild can be supplemented with food obtained by begging. The begged food, however, should be only enough for "bare subsistence" and should be obtained from the right donors:

He should get food for bare subsistence by begging from priests who are ascetics themselves, from householders, and from other twice-born forest-dwellers. Or a man who lives in the forest may get [food] from a village, receiving it in the hollow of a leaf or in his hand or in a broken clay dish, and eat [only] eight mouthfuls of it. To perfect himself, a priest who lives in the forest must follow these and other preparations for consecration, as well as the various revealed canonical texts of the Upanishads, and those that sages and priestly householders have followed, to increase learning and inner heat and to clean the body. (Manu, 6.27–30)

The final stage of life is that of the world renouncer, who continues and furthers the ascetic practices of the forest dweller: "And when he has spent the third part of his lifespan in the forests in this way, he may abandon all attachments and wander as an ascetic for the fourth part of his lifespan" (Manu, 6.33). In this stage, the renouncer sends his wife away to live with his sons and performs a ceremony equivalent to his own funeral, stating that from this time on "no one belongs to me, and I belong to no one." Dying to his social persona, the wandering hermit from this time forth may no longer return to his previous home and should live entirely detached from the things of this world, owning nothing, alone and without companions, perfectly content and indifferent. He should beg but once a day, and he should not be "addicted to food" or hope for lots of alms or be disappointed should he receive nothing.

He should always go all alone, with no companion, to achieve success; realizing that success is for the man who is alone, he neither deserts nor is deserted. The hermit should have no fire and no home, but should go to a village to get food, silent, indifferent, unwavering and deep in concentration. A skull-bowl, the roots of trees, poor clothing, no companionship, and equanimity to everything—this is the distinguishing mark of one who is Freed. He should not welcome dying, nor should he welcome living, but wait for the right time as a servant waits for orders.… He should live here on earth seated in ecstatic contemplation of the soul, indifferent, without any carnal desires, with the soul as his only companion and happiness as his goal.… He should go begging once a day and not be eager to get a great quantity, for an ascetic who is addicted to food becomes attached to sensory objects, too.… He should not be sad when he does not get anything nor delighted when he gets something, but take only what will daily sustain his vital breath, transcending any attachment to material things. (Manu, 6.42–45, 49, 55, 57)

The system of stages of life was the principal way in which Hinduism reconciled the apparently contradictory pulls of its life-affirming and world-renouncing strains. But there was also another way of reconciling the householder and renunciatory ways of life in the classical texts of Hinduism. This is the yoga of action (karma yoga ) in the Bhagavad Gita. As opposed to the renunciation of action characteristic of ascetics and world renouncers, the Bhagavad Gita advocates a renunciation in action: one performs one's duties in society but dedicates the fruits of all action to God.

Asceticism in Buddhism

According to Buddhist texts, Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563–c. 483 b.c.e.), the founder of Buddhism, was born into a royal family and raised in the lap of luxury. Upon learning of the true nature of the world outside his insulated life—a world full of suffering, sickness, old age, and death—Gautama immediately renounced his privileged life, left his family, and joined a group of ascetics in the jungle.

The time of the Buddha seems to have been one in which many different renunciatory groups in the uninhabited regions of north India experimented with various techniques—ascetic, yogic, philosophical, and meditational—to attain release from suffering and rebirth. Early Buddhist texts are replete with references to ascetics of various types. One such text depicts the typical ascetic (tapasvin ) of the time as one who

goes naked, is of certain loose habits, licks his hands, respects no approach nor stop; accepts nothing expressly brought, nor expressly prepared, nor any invitations.… He takes food once a day, or once every two days, or once every seven days.… He feeds on herbs, or on the powder of rice husks, on rice-scum, on flour of oil seeds, on grasses, on cowdung, or on fruits and roots from the woods.… He wears coarse hempen cloths, discarded corpse cloths, discarded rags, or antelope hide, or bark garments. (Digha Nikaya, quoted in Bhagat, p. 151)

According to hagiographies of the life of the Buddha, Gautama hooked up with such a group and practiced and mastered the radical ascetic regimen they advocated, to such an extent that he ate virtually nothing and shriveled to nothing more than skin and bones. Finding that he had not achieved his goal through such austerities, Gautama rejected the ascetic path and pursued what he called the "middle way" between the poles of sensuality and asceticism: "There are two extremes, O monks, which he who has given up the world ought to avoid. What are these two extremes? A life given to pleasure, devoted to pleasures and lust; this is degrading, sensual, vulgar, ignoble and profitless. And a life given to mortifications; this is painful, ignoble and profitless" (Mahavagga, quoted in Bhagat, p. 161).

Buddhism in its origins is thus somewhat ambivalent about the usefulness of asceticism. On the one hand, it rejects the extreme forms of physical abnegation and self-torture that appear in the other Indian religions it grew up with. Buddhism denies that such physical asceticism alone can procure for the practitioner the highest spiritual goals. On the other hand, however, there can be no question that Buddhism requires its more serious practitioners not only to renounce worldly life but also to train diligently in self-discipline and self-control through the "eightfold path" (right views, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration). Attaining the permanent peace and happiness known as nirvana also requires the elimination of desire and aversion through ascetic self-discipline and abnegation. If one can eliminate desire, selfishness, and egotism by more moderate means, the more radical physical austerities are unnecessary: "All mortification is vain so long as selfishness leads to lust after pleasures in this world or in another world. But he in whom egotism has become extinct is free from lust; he will desire neither worldly nor heavenly pleasures, and the satisfaction of his natural wants will not defile him. He may eat and drink to satisfy the needs of life" (Mahavagga, quoted in Bhagat, p. 162).

While the Buddha rejected the extreme forms of physical asceticism recommended by others, he did allow for a number of ascetic practices called the dhutanga s. These practices are said not to be the path itself but only preparatory for the path; they help the seeker eliminate all forms of attachment. The dhutanga s include wearing only monastic robes made from discarded fabric, living only on alms begged for indiscriminately, eating only once a day, living in the forest or at the foot of a tree or in a cemetery, and sleeping only while sitting upright (and never while lying down).

The main form that asceticism took in Buddhism was monastic renunciation of the world. In stark contrast to the Hindu system of the four stages of life, in which renunciation was relegated to the end of life after the householder stage, Buddhists insisted that as soon as one recognized that this world is like a "house on fire," one should give up the worldly life and join the monastery. There, in the company of other monks or nuns, one could pursue a regulated life of study, meditation, and self-discipline similar to the monastic lifestyle pursued in other religious traditions.

Asceticism in Jainism

The founder of the religion of Jainism was, like the Buddha, a world renouncer. Unlike the Buddha, however, Mahavira (599–527 b.c.e.) embraced a program of extreme austerities to reach his religious goal. Having left the social world, Mahavira adopted the life of a naked wandering mendicant and for twelve years practiced the most severe of physical austerities until he reached perfection.

The life of Mahavira set the tone for the development of the Jain tradition. Jainism is perhaps the most ascetically oriented of all the world's religions. Most Jains are and have always been householders, but even householders are urged to live lives of self-restraint and especially nonviolence. Jain monks pursue lives of even greater austerities, following the five "great vows" (no killing living beings, truthfulness, no stealing, chastity, and renunciation of possessions) and, in some sects, not wearing any clothing. Jains seek ascetic heat in both its "external" and "internal" forms—the former entailing fasting, begging, and mortification of the body; the latter requiring penance, modesty, service to others, study, meditation, and nonattachment to the body. The epitome of asceticism is found in the Jain tradition of religious suicide by starvation.

Conclusion

While renunciation of the world and asceticism have had a huge influence on Indian religions, it must be remembered that the more extreme practices have always been limited to the very few, the religious virtuosi. Also, these world-denying and self-abnegating practices have always coexisted with equally or more powerful strains in these traditions valorizing a worldly life and, to some extent, material goals. The ascetic quality of Indian religions has often been exaggerated, even caricatured, at the expense of a more realistic portrait—one that admits the impact of asceticism on these traditions while contextualizing such practices and values within what have always been complex and varied religious traditions.

Asceticism's Roots in Church History:

Asceticism was common in the early Church when Christians pooled their money and practiced a simple, humble lifestyle.

       

It took on more severe forms in the lives of the desert fathers, anchorite hermits who lived apart from others in the north African desert in the third and fourth centuries. They modeled their lives on John the Baptist, who lived in the wilderness, wore a camel hair garment and subsisted on locusts and wild honey.

This practice of strict self-denial received an endorsement from the early church father Augustine (354-430 AD), bishop of Hippo in north Africa, who wrote a rule or set of instructions for monks and nuns in his diocese.

Before he converted to Christianity, Augustine spent nine years as a Manichee, a religion that practiced poverty and celibacy. He was also influenced by the deprivations of the desert fathers.

Arguments For and Against Asceticism:

In theory, asceticism is supposed to remove worldly obstacles between the believer and God. Doing away with greed, ambition, pride, sex, and pleasurable food are intended to help subdue the animal nature and develop the spiritual nature.       

       

However, many Christians made the leap that the human body is evil and must be violently controlled. They drew on Romans 7:18-25:

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ‎So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (ESV)

   

And 1 Peter 2:11:

"Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul." (ESV)

Contradicting this belief is the fact that Jesus Christ was incarnated in a human body. When people in the early church tried to promote the idea of fleshly corruption, it spawned a variety of heresies that Christ was not fully man and fully God.

Besides the proof of Jesus' incarnation, the Apostle Paul set the record straight in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." (NIV)

Through the centuries, asceticism became a staple of monasticism, the practice of isolating one's self from society to focus on God. Even today, many Eastern Orthodox monks and Roman Catholic monks and nuns practice obedience, celibacy, eat plain food, and wear simple robes. Some even take a vow of silence.

Many Amish communities also practice a form of asceticism, denying themselves such things as electricity, cars, and modern clothing to discourage pride and worldly desires. Asceticism is intended to remove distractions between the believer and God.

Types of religious asceticism

Asceticism is most commonly associated with monks, yogis, or certain types of priests. However any individual may choose to lead an ascetic life. Lao Zi, Shakyamuni Gautama, Mahavir Swami, Saint Anthony, Francis of Assisi, and Mahatma Gandhi are among the best known ascetics. Every major religion and most smaller religious groups have ascetic traditions.

Hinduism

In Hinduism, Yoga is described as a way to attain enlightenment and self-realization.

In Hinduism, "The Eternal Way" (in Sanskrit सनातन धर्म, Sanātana Dharma), speaks to the idea that certain spiritual principles hold eternally true, transcending man-made constructs, representing a pure science of consciousness. This consciousness is not merely that of the body or mind and intellect, but of a supra-mental spiritual state that exists within and beyond our existence, the unsullied Self of all. Sadhus, men believed to be holy, are known for extreme forms of self-denial. The particular types of asceticism involved vary from sect to sect, and from holy man to holy man.

There are several forms of yoga practiced in Hinduism. Raja yoga (or meditational union) is based on the sage Patanjali's influential text the Yoga Sutra, which is essentially a compilation and systematization of previous meditational yogi philosophy. The Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita are also indispensable literature in the study of yoga.

The goal of Raja Yoga is clearly stated in the opening verse of the Yoga Sutra: citti vritti nirodha ("cessation of mental fluctuations"). Realization of this goal is known as samadhi. A primary means of the attainment of samadhi is sanyāsa—meaning "renunciation" or "abandonment."

Unlike monks in the Western world, whose lives are regulated by a monastery or an abbey and its rules, the Hindu sannyasin is usually a lone personage and a wanderer (parivrājaka). Hindu monasteries (mathas) do not have a large number of monks living under one roof. The monasteries exist primarily for educational purposes and have become centers of pilgrimage for the lay population. Most traditional Hindu orders do not have women sannyasis, but this situation is undergoing changes in recent times.

Jainism

Jainism is a specifically ascetic religion with its origins in the prehistory of India and is still practiced today by several million people. Like Hindu asceticism, Jainism encourages fasting, yoga practices, meditation in difficult postures, and other austerities. Also, as in the Hindu tradition, one's highest goal should be moksha (i.e., liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth). For this, a soul has to be completely passionless and without attachment. This can be achieved only by the monks and nuns who take five great vows: non-violence, truth, non-stealing, non-possession, and celibacy.

Jain nuns in meditation

Many of Jainism's ascetic practices can be traced back to Vardhaman Mahavira. The Acaranga Sutra, or "Book of Good Conduct," is a sacred book within Jainism that discusses the ascetic code of conduct. Since Jain ascetics practice complete non-violence, they do not hurt any living animal being, be it an insect or a human. Some Jains wear a cloth over the mouth to prevent accidental harm to airborne germs and insects.

Jain monks and nuns travel barefoot from city to city, often crossing forests and deserts. They sleep on the floor without blankets and sit on special wooden platforms. To prevent attachment to any place, Jain ascetics do not stay in a single place for more than two months, except during four months of monsoon (rainy season), they continue to stay at a single place to avoid killing of life forms that thrives during the rains.

Jains follow a strict vegetarian diet without root vegetables. Fasting is a routine feature of Jain asceticism, with fasts lasting for a day or longer, up to a month. Some monks avoid or limit medicine and hospitalization out of disregard for the physical body. Other austerities include meditation in seated or standing posture near river banks in the cold wind, or meditation atop hills and mountains, especially at noon when the sun is at its fiercest. Such austerities are undertaken according to the physical and mental limits of the individual ascetic.

Almost completely without possessions, some Jains own only unstitched white robes and a bowl used for eating and collecting alms. Jain monks and nuns also practice complete celibacy. They do not touch or share a sitting platform with a person of the opposite sex. Every day is spent either in study of scriptures, meditation, or teaching.

Buddhism

As with Hinduism and Jainism, the aim of Buddhist practice is to end the suffering of cyclic existence—samsara—by awakening the practitioner to the realization of true reality, the achievement of spiritual liberation (nirvana). To achieve this, one must purify and train the mind and act according to the laws of karma by performing positive, wholesome actions, and avoiding negative, harmful actions.

The Buddha and his disciples

According to Buddhist texts, Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563–c. 483 B.C.E.), the founder of Buddhism, was born into a royal family and raised in the lap of luxury. Upon learning of the true nature of the world outside his insulated life—a world full of suffering, sickness, old age, and death—Gautama immediately renounced his privileged life, left his family, and joined a group of ascetics in the jungle.

The time of the Buddha seems to have been one in which many different renunciatory groups in the uninhabited regions of north India experimented with various techniques-—ascetic, yogic, philosophical, and meditational-—to attain release from suffering and rebirth. Early Buddhist texts are replete with references to ascetics of various types.

According to some versions of the life of the Buddha, Gautama connected with such a group and mastered the radical ascetic regimen they advocated, to such an extent that he ate virtually nothing and shriveled to skin and bones. Finding that he had not achieved his goal through such austerities, Gautama rejected the ascetic path and pursued what he called the "middle way" between the poles of sensuality and asceticism.

Buddhism is thus somewhat ambivalent about the usefulness of asceticism. On the one hand, it rejects the extreme forms of physical self-denial that appear in the other Indian religions it grew up with. On the other hand, there can be no question that Buddhism requires its more serious practitioners not only to renounce worldly life but also to train diligently in self-discipline and self-control through the "eightfold path" (right views, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration).

While the Buddha rejected the extreme forms of physical asceticism recommended by others, he did allow for a number of ascetic practices called the dhutangas. These practices are said not to be the path itself, but only preparatory for the path; they help the seeker eliminate all forms of attachment. The dhutangas include wearing only monastic robes made from discarded fabric, living only on alms begged for indiscriminately, eating only once a day, living in the forest or at the foot of a tree or in a cemetery, and sleeping only while sitting upright.

The main form that asceticism took in Buddhism was monastic renunciation of the world. In stark contrast to the Hindu system of the four stages of life, in which renunciation was relegated to the end of life after the householder stage, Buddhists insisted that as soon as one recognized that this world is like a "house on fire," one should give up the worldly life and join the monastery. There, in the company of other monks or nuns, one could pursue a regulated life of study, meditation, and self-discipline similar to the monastic lifestyle pursued in other religious traditions.

Mahayana Buddhism tends to be less ascetic in its orientation than Theravada Buddhism. The purpose of life for Theravadins is to become an arhat, a perfected saint who has achieved nirvana and will not be reborn again. As a result, this "Southern" Buddhism tends to be more monastic, strict, and world-renouncing than its Northern counterpart. In Theravada, it is thought to be highly unlikely, even impossible, that a layperson can achieve liberation. Because Mahayana disagrees, it regards itself as providing a "Greater Vehicle" to liberation, in which more people can participate.

Judaism

Ezekiel during his period of lying on his side for 390 days

The history of Jewish asceticism goes back thousands of years with references to the Nazirite vow of refraining from cutting one's hair or beard and not partaking of grapes or wine (Numbers 6), as well as the "wilderness tradition" of prophets living in the desert, fasting on mountaintops, or engaging in various other types of self-denial. For example, both Moses and Elijah fasted for 40 days on Mount Sinai, Jeremiah did not marry (Jeremiah 16:2), Isaiah went naked for three years (Isaiah 20), and Ezekiel lay on his side for 390 days, eating only bread (Ezekiel 4:9).

After the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile and the prophetic institution faded, a new form of asceticism evolved in protest to the worldliness and corruption of the priesthood of the Hasmonean dynasty of the second and first century B.C.E. The Essene sect arose under the banner of priestly asceticism, culminating in the Dead Sea Sect. Certain members of this group practiced celibacy, and its priest adhered to a rigid interpretation of the priestly purification laws and dietary restrictions.

Among the rabbis of the Talmud, some are mentioned as great and consistent fasters. The second century sage Simeon ben Yochai is depicted as an ascetic, and Rabbi Zeira especially is remembered for his fondness of this form of piety. The story goes that he abstained from drink and food for the period of 100 days, in order that hell-fire might later have no power over him. Simeon ben Yochai is regarded as the founder of Kabbala, esoteric Jewish mystical doctrine and practices, which included considerable asceticism. Some of kabbalists reportedly would spend the whole week in fasting, rendering only the Sabbath a day of comfort and joy, with the purpose of hastening the arrival of the Messianic era.

There are various biblical allusions to days of fasting in Israelite times (Psalm 109:24, Nehemiah 9:1, Esther 4:3, etc). Yet apart from the prescribed fast on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, mainstream Judaism rejects asceticism as contrary to God's wishes for the world, which is meant to be enjoyed within prescribed limits.

Christianity

Asceticism within Christian tradition is the set of disciplines practiced to work out the believer's salvation and further the believer's repentance as well as for the purpose of spiritual enlightenment. Although monks and nuns are known for especially strict acts of asceticism, ascetic practices are evident among other early Christians.

Scriptural examples of asceticism can be found in the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus—both of whom fasted for 40 days. Jesus instructed his disciples to fast (Matthew 6:16) and sell their possessions (Matthew 19:21), Saint Paul was celibate, and the primitive Jewish-Christian community in Jerusalem (Acts 4:32) had a tradition of no personal ownership, as well as periods of prayer and fasting (Acts 13:2). Christian authors of late antiquity such as Origen, Jerome, John Chrysostom, and Augustine interpreted meanings of Biblical texts within a highly ascetic religious environment. Through their commentaries, they created an asceticized version of Christianity.

Some early Christians believed that asceticism was the only true way to salvation. This doctrine was rejected as heretical, by the orthodox church, but the ascetic life was preserved through the institution of monasticism.

Francis of Assisi

Thus, the asceticism of practitioners like Jerome was hardly original, and a desert ascetic like Saint Antony the Great (251-356 C.E.) was in the tradition of ascetics in noted communities and sects of the previous centuries. Emphasis on an ascetic religious life is evident in both early Christian writings (Philokalia) and the Eastern Christian practice of hesychasm. Other well known Christian ascetics include Simeon Stylites, Theresa of Avila, Francis of Assisi, Claire of Assisi and numerous others. Indeed, Christian ascetics remain numerous in the modern world in both Catholic and Orthodox monasteries which allow for varying degrees of ascetic lifestyles. Protestant ascetics are more rare, but they do exist. The sociologist Max Weber held that the Protestant work ethic was a form of Protestant asceticism, and some individual Protestants do engage in periods of fasting, sexual abstinence, and other ascetic practices.

Sexual abstinence was merely one aspect of ascetic renunciation. The ancient monks and nuns had other, equally weighty concerns: pride, humility, compassion, discernment, patience, judging others, prayer, hospitality, and almsgiving. For some early Christians, gluttony represented a more primordial problem than sex, and as such the reduced intake of food is also a facet of asceticism. As an illustration, the systematic collection of the Apophthegmata, or Sayings of the Desert Fathers and mothers has more than 20 chapters divided by theme; only one chapter is devoted to porneia (“sexual lust").

Islam

The Islamic word for asceticism is zuhd. The Prophet Muhammad reportedly advised people to live simple lives and he himself practiced great austerities. Even when he had become the virtual king of Arabia, he lived an austere life bordering on privation. His wife Ayesha said that there was hardly a day in his life when he had two square meals. [1] However, mainline Muslim tradition opposes extreme forms of asceticism.

A major exception to this rule is the practice of fasting during Ramadan. During the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, daytime fasting (sawm) is practiced by most observant Muslims. Every day during the month of Ramadan, no Muslim is supposed to eat or drink during daylight hours or have sexual relations. Muslims around the world get up before dawn to eat (sahur) and perform their fajr prayer. They break their fast when the fourth prayer of the day, Maghrib (sunset), is due.

During Ramadan, Muslims are also expected to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam as well as refraining from lying, stealing, anger, envy, greed, lust, sarcastic retorts, backbiting, and gossip. Obscene and irreligious sights and sounds, and sex are to be avoided. (Qur'an 2:187) Purity of both thought and action is considered important. The fast is intended to be an exacting act of deep personal worship in which Muslims seek a raised level of closeness to God. In addition to prayer and fasting, Muslims are encouraged to read the entire Qur'an during Ramadan.

Sufism—a mystical movement within Islam—may have evolved as an ascetic movement. The name Sufi refers to a rough woolen robe of the ascetic. Through meditation on the Qur'an and praying to Allah, the Muslim ascetic believes that he draws near to Allah, and by leading an ascetic life paves the way for absorption in Allah, the Sufi way to salvation.

Early Muslim ascetics focused on introspection and maintained a strict control over their life and behavior. They followed a lifestyle of modesty, temperance, contentment and the denial of luxury. Their practices included fasting, wearing light clothing in the depths of winter, or withdrawing themselves from the world.

If early Sufism arose out of the practice of asceticism—the turning away from worldly life to concentrate on prayer to Allah—then it likely resulted in being limited to a small number of devoted practitioners. By the middle of the ninth century, Sufi mysticism started to burgeon. One major figure and catalyst in its growth was the female mystic Rabiah al-Adawiyah (died in 801), who emphasized the absolute love for Allah above everything else. The shift of Sufism from asceticism to divine love captured the attention of the masses and elites, and soon Sufism began to flourish in Baghdad spreading then to Persia, Pakistan, India, North Africa, and Muslim Spain.

Religious versus secular motivation

Meditating philosopher by Rembrandt van Rijn

Observation of ascetic lifestyles has its beginnings in both religious and secular settings. For example, the religious motivations of the ancient Hebrew sects, fasting in order to become Holy, priestesses in the temples of ancient Greece abstaining from sex to better serve their particular god, and Stoic philosophers disciplining their will against a life of sensual pleasure to achieve spiritual goals, is balanced by the examples of Spartans undertaking regimens of severe physical discipline to prepare for battle and the belief in Rome that the purity of the Vestal Virgins was a safeguard against harm to the city.

Secular motivation

Examples of secular asceticism:

• A "Starving Artist" is someone who minimizes their living expenses in order to spend more time and effort on their art.
• Eccentric inventors sometimes live similar lives in pursuit of technical rather than artistic goals.
• "Hackers" often consider their programming projects to be more important than personal wealth or comfort.
• Various individuals have attempted an ascetic lifestyle to free themselves from modern-day addictions, such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, fast food, gambling, and sex.
• Many professional athletes abstain from sex, rich foods, and other pleasures before major competitions in order to mentally prepare themselves for the upcoming contest.