Editing Asceticism (section)

===Indian religions===
{{Further|Historical Vedic religion|Indian religions|Tapas (Sanskrit)}}
[[File:Sadhu and a picture of Siva.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A ''[[Sadhu|sādhu]]'' in [[yoga]] position with pictures of [[Shiva]], reading a book in [[Varanasi]], Northern India]]

Asceticism is found in both non-theistic and theistic traditions within [[Indian religions]]. The origins of the practice are ancient, and a heritage shared by the three major Indian religions: [[Buddhism]], [[Hinduism]], and [[Jainism]]. They are referred by many names such as Sadhu, Pravrajita, Bhikshu, Yati etc.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Axel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jID3TuoiOMQC |title=Hinduism: Past and Present |last2=Harshav |first2=Barbara |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-691-08952-3 |page=315}}</ref>

Asceticism in Indian religions includes a spectrum of diverse practices, ranging from the mild self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living typical of [[Buddhism]], [[Hinduism]], and [[Jainism]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Gombrich |first=Richard F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KCh-AgAAQBAJ |title=Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-134-21718-2 |pages=44, 62}}</ref><ref name=brsmith144/> to more severe austerities and self-mortification practices of monks in [[Jainism]] and now extinct [[Ajivikas]] in the pursuit of salvation.<ref name="Dundas2003p180">{{cite book |author=Dundas |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8iAAgAAQBAJ |title=The Jains |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=978-0415266055 |edition=2nd |pages=27, 165–166, 180}}</ref> Some ascetics live as hermits relying on whatever food they can find in the forests, then sleep and meditate in caves; others travel from one holy site to another while sustaining their body by begging for food; yet others live in monasteries as monks or nuns.<ref name=axelmichaels316/> Some ascetics live like priests and preachers, other ascetics are armed and militant,<ref name=axelmichaels316/> to resist any [[persecution]]—a phenomenon that emerged after the [[Muslim invasions of India]] during the [[Medieval India|Middle Ages]].<ref name="david">David N. Lorenzen (1978), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/600151 Warrior Ascetics in Indian History], Journal of the American Oriental Society, 98(1): 61–75.</ref><ref name="pinch">William Pinch (2012), Warrior Ascetics and Indian Empires, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-1107406377}}.</ref> Self-torture is relatively uncommon practice but one that attracts public attention. In Indian traditions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, self-mortification is typically criticized.<ref name="axelmichaels316">{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Axel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jID3TuoiOMQC |title=Hinduism: Past and Present |last2=Harshav |first2=Barbara |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-691-08952-3 |page=316}}</ref> However, Indian mythologies also describe numerous ascetic gods or demons who pursued harsh austerities for decades or centuries that helped each gain special powers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Amore |first1=Roy C. |url=https://archive.org/details/lustfulmaidensas00amor |title=Lustful Maidens and Ascetic Kings: Buddhist and Hindu Stories of Life |last2=Shinn |first2=Larry D. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-19-536535-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lustfulmaidensas00amor/page/155 155]–164 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

====Buddhism====
{{Main|Four Noble Truths|Middle Way|Noble Eightfold Path}}
{{Further|Buddhist ethics|Buddhist vegetarianism|Five Strengths}}
[[File:Fasting buddha at lahore museum.jpg|thumb|[[Siddartha Gautama]] depicted in [[Greco-Buddhism|Greco-Buddhist style]] during his extreme fasting prior to being [[Enlightenment in Buddhism#Buddhahood|Awakened]]. [[II century|2nd]]-[[III century|3rd century]], [[Gandhara]] (modern-day eastern Afghanistan), [[Lahore Museum]], [[Pakistan]].]]

[[Buddhism]] is devoted primarily to [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|awakening or enlightenment]] (''bodhi''), ''[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|Nirvāṇa]]'' ("blowing out"), and [[Moksha|liberation]] (''vimokṣa'') from [[Duḥkha|all causes of suffering]] (''duḥkha'')  due to the existence of [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|sentient beings]] in ''[[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]]'' (the cycle of compulsory [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|birth, death, and rebirth]]) through the [[Threefold Training|threefold trainings]] ([[Buddhist ethics|ethical conduct]], [[Samadhi|meditative absorption]], and [[Prajñā (Buddhism)|wisdom]]). [[History of Buddhism in India|Classical Indian Buddhism]] emphasized the importance of the individual's [[Bhavana|self-cultivation]] (through numerous spiritual practices like keeping [[Five precepts|ethical precepts]], [[Buddhist meditation]], and [[Pūjā (Buddhism)|worship]]) in the process of liberation from the [[Kleshas (Buddhism)|defilements]] which keep us bound to the cycle of rebirth. According to the [[Abhidharma|standard Buddhist scholastic understanding]], liberation arises when the proper [[Phenomenon|elements]] (''dhārmata'') are cultivated and when the mind has been purified of its [[Upādāna|attachment]] to [[Fetter (Buddhism)|fetters]] and [[Five hindrances|hindrances]] that produce unwholesome mental factors (various called [[Kleshas (Buddhism)|defilements]], [[Three poisons|poisons]], or [[Asava|fluxes]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Brunnhölzl |first=Karl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jP6PEAAAQBAJ |title=The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madhyamaka in the Kagyü Tradition |publisher=Snow Lion |year=2004 |isbn=978-1559392181 |series=[[Nitartha Institute]] Series |page=131}}</ref>

The [[Siddhartha Gautama|historical Buddha]] ({{circa|5th century BCE}}) adopted an extreme ascetic life in search of enlightenment.<ref name="Laumakis 2023"/><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Buswell Jr. |editor1-first=Robert E. |editor1-link=Robert Buswell Jr. |editor2-last=Lopez Jr. |editor2-first=Donald S. |editor2-link=Donald S. Lopez Jr. |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ |title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8 |page=894}}</ref> However, after enlightenment he rejected extreme asceticism in favor of a more moderated version, the "[[Middle Way]]".<ref name="Laumakis 2023"/><ref name="Nakamura1980p73" /> The Buddha defined his teaching as "[[Middle Way|the Middle Way]]" ([[Pali language|Pāli]]: ''majjhimāpaṭipadā''). In the ''[[Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta|Dharmacakrapravartana Sūtra]]'', this is used to refer to the fact that his teachings steer a middle course between the extremes of [[asceticism]] and bodily denial (as practiced by the [[Jains]] and other Indian ascetic groups) and sensual [[hedonism]] or indulgence. Many ''[[Śramaṇa]]'' ascetics of the Buddha's time placed much emphasis on a denial of the body, using practices such as [[fasting]], to liberate the mind from the body. [[Gautama Buddha]], however, realized that the mind was embodied and causally dependent on the body, and therefore that a malnourished body did not allow the mind to be trained and developed.<ref>Panjvani, Cyrus; Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach (2013), p. 29</ref> Thus, Buddhism's main concern is not with luxury or poverty, but instead with the human response to circumstances.<ref>Swearer, Donald K. Ethics, wealth, and salvation: A study in Buddhist social ethics. Edited by Russell F. Sizemore. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990. (from the introduction)</ref>

Another related teaching of the historical Buddha is "the teaching through the middle" (''majjhena dhammaṃ desana''), which claims to be a metaphysical middle path between the extremes of [[Sassatavada|eternalism]] and [[Eternal oblivion|annihilationism]], as well as the extremes of existence and non-existence.<ref name=":02">Wallis, Glenn (2007) ''Basic Teachings of the Buddha: A New Translation and Compilation, With a Guide to Reading the Texts,'' p. 114.</ref><ref name=":2">See: ''[[Kaccānagotta Sutta]]'' SN 12.15 (SN ii 16), translated by [[Bhikkhu Sujato]]</ref> This idea would become central to later Buddhist metaphysics, as all Buddhist philosophies would claim to steer a metaphysical middle course.

According to [[Hajime Nakamura]] and other scholars, some early Buddhist texts suggest that asceticism was a part of Buddhist practice in its early days.<ref name="Nakamura1980p73">{{cite book |author=Nakamura |first=Hajime |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w0A7y4TCeVQC |title=Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1980 |isbn=978-81-208-0272-8 |pages=73 with footnote 2}}</ref><ref name="LiuAllinson1988p99">{{cite book |last1=Liu |first1=Shuxian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Je1UbD8Dyj4C |title=Harmony and Strife: Contemporary Perspectives, East & West |last2=Allinson |first2=Robert Elliott |publisher=Chinese University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-962-201-412-1 |pages=99 with footnote 25}}</ref> Further, in practice, records from about the start of the common era through the 19th century suggest that asceticism continued to be a part of Buddhism, both in [[Theravada]] and [[Mahayana]] traditions.

=====Theravada=====
{{Main|Buddhist monasticism}}
{{Further|Dhutanga}}

Textual evidence suggests that ascetic practices were a part of the Buddhist tradition in [[Sri Lanka]] by the third century BCE, and this tradition continued through the medieval era in parallel to ''sangha'' style monastic tradition.<ref name="Johnston2000p90">{{cite book |author=Johnston |first=William M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GfC0TDkJJNgC |title=Encyclopedia of Monasticism: A-L |publisher=Routledge |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-57958-090-2 |pages=90–91}}</ref>

In the Theravada tradition of [[Thailand]], medieval texts report of ascetic monks who wander and dwell in the forest or crematory alone, do austere practices, and these came to be known as {{transliteration|th|Thudong}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buswell Jr. |first1=Robert E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ |title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism |last2=Lopez Jr. |first2=Donald S. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8 |pages=22, 910}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=James |title=Forest Monks and the Nation State: An Anthropological and Historical Study in Northeastern Thailand |publisher=Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |year=1993 |isbn=981-3016-49-3}}</ref> Ascetic Buddhist monks have been and continue to be found in [[Myanmar]], and as in Thailand, they are known to pursue their own version of Buddhism, resisting the hierarchical institutionalized {{transliteration|sa|sangha}} structure of monasteries in Buddhism.<ref>{{cite book |author=Powers |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-uoCgAAQBAJ |title=The Buddhist World |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-317-42017-0 |pages=83}}</ref>

=====Mahayana=====
{{Main|Buddhist monasticism}}
{{Further|Sokushinbutsu}}

In the Mahayana tradition asceticism with esoteric and mystical meanings became an accepted practice, such as in the Tendai and Shingon schools of Japanese Buddhism.<ref name="Johnston2000p90" /> These Japanese practices included penance, austerities, ablutions under a waterfall, and rituals to purify oneself.<ref name="Johnston2000p90" /> Japanese records from the 12th century record stories of monks undertaking severe asceticism, while records suggest that 19th century [[Nichiren Buddhist]] monks woke up at midnight or 2:00 am daily, and performed ascetic water purification rituals under cold waterfalls.<ref name="Johnston2000p90" /> Other practices include the extreme ascetic practices of eating only pine needles, resins, seeds and ultimately self-mummification, while alive, or ''[[Sokushinbutsu]]'' (''miira'') in Japan.<ref>Ichiro Hori (1962), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062053 Self-Mummified Buddhas in Japan. An Aspect of the Shugen-Dô ("Mountain Asceticism") Sect], History of Religions, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1962), pp. 222–242.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Boscaro |first1=Adriana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kO0tUpCViA8C&pg=PA250 |title=Rethinking Japan: Social sciences, ideology & thought |last2=Gatti |first2=Franco |last3=Raveri |first3=Massimo |publisher=Routledge |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-904404-79-1 |page=250}}</ref><ref name="Lobetti2013p130">{{cite book |author=Lobetti |first=Tullio Federico |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3W2_AAAAQBAJ |title=Ascetic Practices in Japanese Religion |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-134-47273-4 |pages=130–136}}</ref>

In Chinese Buddhism self-mummification ascetic practices were less common but recorded in the ''Ch'an'' (Zen Buddhism) tradition there.<ref name="Williams2005p362">{{cite book |author=Williams |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VHj5DWDJjnIC&pg=PA362 |title=Buddhism: Buddhism in China, East Asia, and Japan |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-415-33234-7 |pages=362 with footnote 37}}</ref> More ancient Chinese Buddhist asceticism, somewhat similar to ''Sokushinbutsu'' are also known, such as the public self-immolation (self-cremation, as shaoshen 燒身 or zifen 自焚)<ref>James A. Benn (2012), Multiple Meanings of Buddhist Self-Immolation in China – A Historical Perspective, ''Revue des Études Tibétaines'', no. 25, p. 205.</ref> practice, aimed at abandoning the impermanent body.{{NoteTag|Alternate practices included cutting off a part of one's body.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Shufen | first=Liu | title=Death and the Degeneration of Life Exposure of the Corpse in Medieval Chinese Buddhism | journal=Journal of Chinese Religions | volume=28 | issue=1 | year=2000 | pages=1–30 | doi=10.1179/073776900805306720 }}</ref><ref name=jamesbenn211/>}} The earliest-documented ascetic Buddhist monk biography is of Fayu (法羽) in 396 CE, followed by more than fifty documented cases in the centuries that followed including that of monk Daodu (道度).<ref name="Benn2007p33">{{cite book |author=Benn |first=James A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dWL6EEkL8goC |title=Burning for the Buddha: Self-Immolation in Chinese Buddhism |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8248-2992-6 |pages=33–34, 82–84, 3–4}}</ref><ref name="yunhuajan">Yün-hua Jan (1965), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1061959 Buddhist Self-Immolation in Medieval China], History of Religions, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Winter, 1965), pp. 243–268.</ref> This was considered as evidence of a renunciant [[bodhisattva]], and may have been inspired by the Jataka tales wherein the Buddha in his earlier lives immolates himself to assist other living beings,<ref>{{cite book |author=Benn |first=James A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dWL6EEkL8goC |title=Burning for the Buddha: Self-Immolation in Chinese Buddhism |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8248-2992-6 |pages=112–114, 14–16}}</ref> or by the [[Bhaisajyaguru|Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhārāja]]-related teachings in the ''[[Lotus Sutra]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Benn |first=James A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dWL6EEkL8goC |title=Burning for the Buddha: Self-Immolation in Chinese Buddhism |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8248-2992-6 |page=3}}</ref> Historical records suggest that the self-immolation practices were observed by nuns in Chinese Buddhism as well.<ref name="BaochangTsai1994p10" />

The Chinese Buddhist asceticism practices, states James Benn, were not an adaptation or import of Indian ascetic practices, but an invention of Chinese Buddhists, based on their unique interpretations of ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīka'' or ''Lotus Sūtra''.<ref name="bennret207">James A. Benn (2012), Multiple Meanings of Buddhist Self-Immolation in China – A Historical Perspective, ''Revue des Études Tibétaines'', no. 25, pp. 203–212, '''Quote:''' "Of all the forms of self-immolation, auto-cremation in particular seems to have been primarily created by medieval Chinese Buddhists. Rather than being a continuation or adaptation of an Indian practice (although there were Indians who burned themselves), as far as we can tell, auto-cremation was constructed on Chinese soil and drew on range of influences such as a particular interpretation of an Indian Buddhist scripture (the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka or Lotus Sūtra) along with indigenous traditions, such as burning the body to bring rain, that long pre-dated the arrival of Buddhism in China."</ref> It may be an adoption of more ancient pre-Buddhist Chinese practices,<ref>James A. Benn (2012), Multiple Meanings of Buddhist Self-Immolation in China – A Historical Perspective, ''Revue des Études Tibétaines'', no. 25, p. 207.</ref><ref>James A. Benn (1998), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3176400 Where Text Meets Flesh: Burning the Body as an Apocryphal Practice in Chinese Buddhism], History of Religions, Vol. 37, No. 4 (May, 1998), pp. 295–322.</ref> or from [[Taoism]].<ref name="BaochangTsai1994p10">{{cite book |last1=Pao-ch'ang |first1=Shih |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_LTtK94B0TQC |title=Lives of the Nuns: Biographies of Chinese Buddhist Nuns from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries : a Translation of the Pi-chʻiu-ni Chuan |last2=Tsai |first2=Kathryn Ann |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-8248-1541-7 |pages=10–12, 65–66}}</ref> It is unclear if self-immolation was limited primarily to Chinese asceticism tradition, and strong evidence of it being a part of a large scale, comprehensive ascetic program among Chinese Buddhists is lacking.<ref name="jamesbenn211">James A. Benn (2012), Multiple Meanings of Buddhist Self-Immolation in China – A Historical Perspective, ''Revue des Études Tibétaines'', no. 25, p. 211.</ref>

====Hinduism====
[[File:A female sadhu sannyasi monk with a Vishnu mark, painting from India.jpg|thumb|230px|left|A female [[Hindus|Hindu]] [[Sadhu|renunciant]] (''sādhvī'') of the [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava tradition]], 19th-century [[British Raj|British India]]]]
{{Main|Avadhuta|Puruṣārtha|Vairagya}}
{{Further|Ataptatanu|Diet in Hinduism|Matha|Sannyasa}}

Renunciation from the worldly life, and a pursuit of spiritual life either as a part of monastic community or a hermit, has been a historic tradition of Hinduism since ancient times. The renunciation tradition is called [[Sannyasa]], and this is not the same as asceticism—which typically connotes severe self-denial and self-mortification. ''Sannyasa'' often involved a simple life, one with minimal or no material possessions, study, meditation and ethical living. Those who undertook this lifestyle were called ''Sannyasi'', ''[[Sadhu]]'', ''Yati'',<ref>[http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=yatin&direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0 yatin] Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Koeln University, Germany.</ref> ''Bhiksu'', ''Pravrajita/Pravrajitā''<ref>[http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=pravrajitA&direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0 pravrajitA] Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Koeln University, Germany.</ref> and Parivrajaka in Hindu texts.<ref name="olivelleshs265">Patrick Olivelle (1981), "Contributions to the Semantic History of Saṃnyāsa," ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', Vol. 101, No. 3, pp. 265–274.</ref> The term with a meaning closer to asceticism in Hindu texts is [[Tapas (Sanskrit)|Tapas]], but it too spans a spectrum of meanings ranging from inner heat, to self-mortification and penance with austerities, to meditation and self-discipline.<ref name="brsmith144">{{cite book |author=Smith |first=Benjamin R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XF6AVGsz_YwC&pg=PA144 |title=Yoga in the Modern World: Contemporary Perspectives |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-134-05520-3 |editor=Mark Singleton and Jean Byrne |page=144}}</ref><ref name="Kaelber">Kaelber, W. O. (1976). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062153 "Tapas", Birth, and Spiritual Rebirth in the Veda], ''History of Religions'', 15(4), pp. 343–386.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Sedlar |first=Jean W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=al8bAAAAYAAJ |title=India and the Greek world: a study in the transmission of culture |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-8476-6173-2 |page=34}};<br />Lowitz, L. & Datta, R. (2004). ''Sacred Sanskrit Words: For Yoga, Chant, and Meditation''. Stone Bridge Press, Incorporated; see Tapas or tapasya in Sanskrit means, the conditioning of the body through the proper kinds and amounts of diet, rest, bodily training, meditation, etc., to bring it to the greatest possible state of creative power. It involves practicing the art of controlling materialistic desires to attain moksha.[http://www.yogiphilosophy.com/docs/YogaintheUpanishads_web.pdf Yoga, Meditation on Om, Tapas, and Turiya in the principal Upanishads], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130908134948/http://www.yogiphilosophy.com/docs/YogaintheUpanishads_web.pdf|date=2013-09-08}}, Chicago, Illinois.</ref>

The 11th century literary work ''Yatidharmasamuccaya'' is a Vaishnava text that summarizes ascetic practices in Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Pprakāśa |first=Yādava |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u43i4TKAIZ4C |title=Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism: Yatidharmasamuccaya of Yādava Prakāśa |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-7914-2283-0 |translator-last=Olivelle |translator-first=Patrick}}</ref> In Hindu traditions, as with other Indian religions, both men and women have historically participated in a diverse spectrum of ascetic practices.<ref name="Leslie1992p212" />

===== Vedas and Upanishads =====
Asceticism-like practices are hinted in the [[Vedas]], but these hymns have been variously interpreted as referring to early [[Yogi]]s and loner renouncers. One such mention is in the Kesin hymn of the [[Rigveda]], where [[Keśin]]s ("long-haired" ascetics) and Munis ("silent ones") are described.<ref>{{cite book |author=Flood |first=Gavin D. |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo |title=An Introduction to Hinduism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-43878-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/77 77] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=[https://archive.org/details/rigvedapenguincl00anon/page/137 137] |title=The RigVeda |first=Wendy |last= Doniger O'Flaherty |author-link=Wendy Doniger |year=2005 |isbn=0140449892 |publisher=Penguin Classics |url=https://archive.org/details/rigvedapenguincl00anon/page/137}}</ref> These Kesins of the Vedic era, are described as follows by Karel Werner:<ref name="karelwernerkesinrv">{{cite journal |first=Karel |last=Werner |year=1977 |title=Yoga and the Ṛg Veda: An Interpretation of the Keśin Hymn (RV 10, 136) |journal=Religious Studies |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=289–302|doi=10.1017/S0034412500010076 |s2cid=170592174 }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|
The Keśin does not live a normal life of convention. His hair and beard grow longer, he spends long periods of time in absorption, musing and meditating and therefore he is called "sage" (muni). They wear clothes made of yellow rags fluttering in the wind, or perhaps more likely, they go naked, clad only in the yellow dust of the Indian soil. But their personalities are not bound to earth, for they follow the path of the mysterious wind when the gods enter them. He is someone lost in thoughts: he is miles away.
|Karel Werner (1977)|"Yoga and the Ṛg Veda: An Interpretation of the Keśin Hymn"<ref name="karelwernerkesinrv"/>}}

The Vedic and Upanishadic texts of Hinduism, states Mariasusai Dhavamony, do not discuss self-inflicted pain, but do discuss self-restraint and self-control.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dhavamony |first=Mariausai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DD0w_IMFA8gC |title=Classical Hinduism |publisher=Gregorian Biblical University |year=1982 |isbn=978-88-7652-482-0 |pages=368–369}}</ref> The monastic tradition of Hinduism is evidenced in first millennium BCE, particularly in its [[Advaita Vedanta]] tradition. This is evidenced by the oldest Sannyasa Upanishads, because all of them have a strong Advaita Vedanta outlook.<ref>Stephen H. Phillips (1995), ''Classical Indian Metaphysics'', Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0812692983}}, p. 332 with note 68.</ref> Most of the Sannyasa Upanishads present a Yoga and nondualism ([[Advaita]]) Vedanta philosophy.<ref>Antonio Rigopoulos (1998), ''Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara'', State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791436967}}, pp. 62–63.</ref><ref name="olivelletsu17" /> The 12th-century ''[[Shatyayaniya Upanishad]]'' is a significant exception, which presents qualified dualistic and [[Vaishnavism]] ([[Vishishtadvaita]] Vedanta) philosophy.<ref name="olivelletsu17">{{cite book |first=Patrick |last=Olivelle|year=1992|title=The Samnyasa Upanisads|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195070453 |pages=17–18}}</ref><ref>Antonio Rigopoulos (1998), Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791436967}}, p. 81 note 27.</ref> These texts mention a simple, ethical lifestyle but do not mention self-torture or body mortification. For example:

{{Blockquote|
These are the vows a Sannyasi must keep:<br /><br />Abstention from injuring living beings, truthfulness, abstention from appropriating the property of others, abstention from sex, liberality (kindness, gentleness) are the major vows. There are five minor vows: abstention from anger, obedience towards the guru, avoidance of rashness, cleanliness, and purity in eating. He should beg (for food) without annoying others, any food he gets he must compassionately share a portion with other living beings, sprinkling the remainder with water he should eat it as if it were a medicine.
|[[Baudhayana]] Dharmasūtra| II.10.18.1–10<ref name=mmbd2>[[Max Muller]] (Translator), [https://archive.org/stream/pt2sacredlawsof14bhuoft#page/278/mode/2up Baudhayana Dharmasūtra Prasna II, Adhyaya 10, Kandika 18], ''The [[Sacred Books of the East]]'', Vol. XIV, Oxford University Press, pages 279–281</ref>}}

Similarly, the [[Nirvana Upanishad]] asserts that the Hindu ascetic should hold, according to [[Patrick Olivelle]], that "the sky is his belief, his knowledge is of the absolute, union is his initiation, compassion alone is his pastime, bliss is his garland, the cave of solitude is his fellowship", and so on, as he proceeds in his effort to gain self-knowledge (or soul-knowledge) and its identity with the Hindu metaphysical concept of [[Brahman]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Patrick|last=Olivelle|year=1992|title= The Samnyasa Upanisads|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195070453|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fB8uneM7q1cC&pg=PA230|pages=227–235}}</ref> Other behavioral characteristics of the ''Sannyasi'' include: [[ahimsa]] (non-violence), [[akrodha]] (not become angry even if you are abused by others),<ref>Mayeul de Dreuille, ''The rule of Saint Benedict and the ascetic traditions from Asia to the West,'' p. 134.</ref> disarmament (no weapons), chastity, bachelorhood (no marriage), avyati (non-desirous), amati (poverty), self-restraint, truthfulness, sarvabhutahita (kindness to all creatures), [[asteya]] (non-stealing), [[aparigraha]] (non-acceptance of gifts, non-possessiveness) and [[shaucha]] (purity of body speech and mind).<ref name="mdh">Mariasusai Dhavamony (2002), ''Hindu-Christian Dialogue: Theological Soundings and Perspectives'', {{ISBN|978-9042015104}}, pp. 96–97, 111–114.</ref><ref>Barbara Powell (2010), ''Windows Into the Infinite: A Guide to the Hindu Scriptures'', Asian Humanities Press, {{ISBN|978-0875730714}}, pp. 292–297.</ref>

===== Bhagavad Gita =====
In the [[Bhagavad Gita]], verse 17.5 criticize a form of asceticism that diverges from scriptural guidance and is driven by pride, ego, or attachment, rather than for genuine spiritual growth. Verse 17.6 extends the criticism of such ascetic practices, noting that they are considered harmful to both the practitioner's body and the divine within. With these two verses, [[Krishna]] emphasizes that true ascetic practices should align with scriptural teachings and aim towards higher spiritual goals.{{Sfn|Sutton|2017|p=241}}

{{Blockquote|text=Some people who undertake acts of austerity perform ferocious deeds not sanctioned by scripture. They are motivated by hypocrisy and egotism, and are beset by the power of desire and passion.|title=Bhagavad Gita|source=Verse 17.5}}

====Jainism====
{{Main|Jain monasticism}}
{{Further|Ahimsa in Jainism|Five Vows|Jain vegetarianism}}
[[File:Mahavratas.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[Five Vows]] (''mahāvratas'') of [[Jain monasticism|Jain ascetics]]]]

Asceticism in one of its most intense forms can be found in [[Jainism]]. Ascetic life may include nakedness symbolizing non-possession of even clothes, fasting, body mortification, penance and other austerities, in order to burn away past karma and stop producing new karma, both of which are believed in Jainism to be essential for reaching ''[[siddha]]'' and ''[[moksha]]'' (liberation from rebirths, salvation).{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=118–122}}{{sfn|Fujinaga|2003|pp=205–212 with footnotes}}{{sfn|Balcerowicz|2015|pp=144–150}} In Jainism, the ultimate goal of life is to achieve the liberation of soul from endless cycle of rebirths (moksha from [[samsara]]), which requires ethical living and asceticism. Most of the austerities and ascetic practices can be traced back to [[Mahavira]], the twenty-fourth [[Tirthankara]] who practiced 12 years of asceticism before reaching enlightenment.{{sfn|Doniger|1999|p=549}}{{sfn|Winternitz|1993|pp=408–409}}

Jain texts such as ''Tattvartha Sutra'' and ''[[Uttaradhyayana Sutra]]'' discuss ascetic austerities to great lengths and formulations. Six outer and six inner practices are most common, and oft repeated in later Jain texts.{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=120–121}} According to John Cort, outer austerities include complete fasting, eating limited amounts, eating restricted items, abstaining from tasty foods, mortifying the flesh and guarding the flesh (avoiding anything that is a source of temptation).{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=120–122}} Inner austerities include expiation, confession, respecting and assisting mendicants, studying, meditation and ignoring bodily wants in order to abandon the body.{{sfn|Cort|2001a|pp=120–122}}

The Jain text of ''[[Kalpa Sūtra]]'' describes Mahavira's asceticism in detail, whose life is a source of guidance on most of the ascetic practices in Jainism:<ref>{{cite book |last=Jacobi |first=Hermann |author-link=Hermann Jacobi |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/jai/sbe22/sbe2200.htm |title=The Kalpa Sūtra |publisher=The Clarendon Press |year=1884 |isbn=0-7007-1538-X |editor=Müller |editor-first=F. Max |editor-link=Max Müller |series=[[Sacred Books of the East|Sacred Books of the East vol.22, Part 1]] |location=Oxford, England |type=Translated from Prakrit}} ''Note: ISBN refers to the UK: Routledge (2001) reprint. URL is the scan version of the original 1884 reprint.''</ref>

{{Blockquote|The Venerable Ascetic Mahavira for a year and a month wore clothes; after that time he walked about naked, and accepted the alms in the hollow of his hand. For more than twelve years the Venerable Ascetic Mahivira neglected his body and abandoned the care of it; he with equanimity bore, underwent, and suffered all pleasant or unpleasant occurrences arising from divine powers, men, or animals.|Kalpa Sutra 117}}

Both Mahavira and his ancient Jaina followers are described in Jainism texts as practicing body mortification and being abused by animals as well as people, but never retaliating and never initiating harm or injury ([[ahimsa]]) to any other being.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=180}} With such ascetic practices, he burnt off his past [[Karma]], gained spiritual knowledge, and became a [[Arihant (Jainism)|Jina]].{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=180}} These austere practices are part of the monastic path in Jainism.{{sfn|Wiley|2009|p=210}} The practice of body mortification is called ''kaya klesha'' in Jainism and is found in verse 9.19 of the ''[[Tattvartha Sutra]]'' by [[Umaswati]], the most authoritative oldest surviving Jaina philosophical text.<ref>{{cite book |author=Johnson |first=W. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vw8OUSfQbV4C |title=Harmless Souls: Karmic Bondage and Religious Change in Early Jainism with Special Reference to Umāsvāti and Kundakunda |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1995 |isbn=978-81-208-1309-0 |pages=197}}</ref>{{sfn|Vijay K. Jain|2011|p=134}}

=====Monastic practice=====
In Jain monastic practice, the monks and nuns take ascetic vows, after renouncing all relations and possessions. The vows include a complete commitment to nonviolence (''[[Ahimsa in Jainism|Ahimsa]]''). They travel from city to city, often crossing forests and deserts, and always barefoot. Jain ascetics do not stay in a single place for more than two months to prevent attachment to any place.<ref>Hermann Jacobi, "Sacred Books of the East", vol. 22: Gaina Sutras Part I, 1884.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.sacred-texts.com/jai/sbe22/index.htm |title=Jaina Sutras, Part I (SBE22) Index |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2016-01-30}}</ref> However, during the four months of monsoon (rainy season) known as ''chaturmaas'', they stay at a single place to avoid killing life forms that thrive during the rains.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Constance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC&pg=PA208 |title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |last2=Ryan |first2=James D. |publisher=Infobase |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8160-7564-5 |pages=207–208, see Jain Festivals}}</ref> Jain monks and nuns practice complete celibacy. They do not touch or share a sitting platform with a person of the opposite sex.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

Jain ascetics follow a strict [[vegetarian]] diet without root vegetables. Prof. Pushpendra K. Jain explains:

<blockquote>Clearly enough, to procure such vegetables and fruits, one must pull out the plant from the root, thus destroying the entire plant, and with it all the other micro organisms around the root. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be plucked only when ripe and ready to fall off, or ideally after they have fallen off the plant. In case they are plucked from the plants, only as much as required should be procured and consumed without waste.<ref name="Prof.Jain" /></blockquote>

The monks of [[Śvetāmbara]] sub-tradition within Jainism do not cook food but solicit alms from householders. [[Digambara]] monks have only a single meal a day.<ref name="Tobias1995p102" /> Neither group will beg for food, but a Jain ascetic may accept a meal from a householder, provided that the latter is pure of mind and body and offers the food of his own volition and in the prescribed manner. During such an encounter, the monk remains standing and eats only a measured amount. A routine feature of Jain asceticism are fasting periods, where adherents abstain from consuming food, and sometimes water, only during daylight hours, for up to 30 days. Some monks avoid (or limit) medicine or hospitalization out of disregard for the physical body.<ref name="Prof.Jain">{{cite web |last=Jain |first=P. K. |title=Dietary code of practice among the Jains |url=http://www.ivu.org/congress/2000/jainism.html |publisher=34th World Vegetarian Congress Toronto, Canada, July 10 to 16, 2000}}</ref>

[[Śvētāmbara]] monks and nuns wear only unstitched white robes (an upper and lower garment), and own one bowl they use for eating and collecting alms. Male [[Digambara]] sect monks do not wear any clothes, carry nothing with them except a soft broom made of shed peacock feathers (''pinchi'') to gently remove any insect or living creature in their way or bowl, and they eat with their hands.<ref name="Tobias1995p102">{{cite book |author=Tobias |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/visionofnaturetr00tobi |title=A Vision of Nature: Traces of the Original World |publisher=Kent State University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-87338-483-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/visionofnaturetr00tobi/page/102 102] |url-access=registration}}</ref> They sleep on the floor without blankets, and sit on wooden platforms. Other austerities include meditation in seated or standing posture near riverbanks in the cold wind, or meditation atop hills and mountains, especially at noon when the sun is at its fiercest.<ref>{{cite book |author=Chapple |first=Christopher Key |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqbbCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA199 |title=Yoga in Jainism |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-317-57218-3 |pages=199–200}}</ref> Such austerities are undertaken according to the physical and mental limits of the individual ascetic.

When death is imminent from an advanced age or terminal disease, many Jain ascetics take a final vow of [[Santhara]] or [[Sallekhana]], a fast to peaceful and detached death, by first reducing intake of and then ultimately abandoning all medicines, food, and water.<ref name="battin47" /> Scholars state that this ascetic practice is not a suicide, but a form of natural death, done without passion or turmoil or suddenness, and because it is done without active violence to the body.<ref name="battin47">{{cite book |author=Battin |first=Margaret Pabst |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OJJZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |title=The Ethics of Suicide: Historical Sources |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-19-513599-2 |page=47}}</ref>

====Sikhism====
While [[Sikhism]] treats [[Kaam|lust]] as a vice, it has at the same time unmistakingly pointed out that man must share the moral responsibility by leading the life of a householder. What is important is to be God-centred. According to Sikhism, ascetics are certainly not on the right path.<ref>{{cite book |last=Singha |first=H. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C&pg=PA22 |title=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism (over 1000 Entries) |publisher=Hemkunt Press |year=2000 |isbn=9788170103011 |page=22}}</ref> When [[Guru Nanak]] visited [[Nanakmatta|Gorakhmata]], he discussed the true meaning of asceticism with some yogis:<ref name="pruthi">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxndvJs3wUkC&pg=PA55 | title=Sikhism and Indian Civilization | publisher=Discovery Publishing House | last=Pruthi | first=Raj | year=2004 | pages=55 | isbn=9788171418794}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Asceticism doesn't lie in ascetic robes, or in walking staff, nor in the ashes. Asceticism doesn't lie in the earring, nor in the shaven head, nor blowing a conch. Asceticism lies in remaining pure amidst impurities. Asceticism doesn't lie in mere words; He is an ascetic who treats everyone alike. Asceticism doesn't lie in visiting burial places, It lies not in wandering about, nor in bathing at places of pilgrimage. Asceticism is to remain pure amidst impurities.|Guru Nanak<ref name=pruthi/>}}