Asceticism

Asceticism has appeared in both religious and secular settings. The ancient Hebrew sects fasted in order to experience the Holy. The early Greeks undertook a regimen of severe physical discipline to prepare for battle. Stoic philosophers disciplined their will against a life of sensual pleasure to attain spiritual goals. Christian monks eschewed the comforts of the world for the solitude of the desert. Following the Reformation, the straight-spined Puritans endured the hardwood pews of freezing New England meeting halls to show their devotion to a stern and demanding God. The Victorians encapsulated the ascetic temperament with their admonition, "You have to take your medicine like a man." Underlying this litany of ascetic practices persists a human need to give purpose to suffering.

The adjective "ascetic" derives from the ancient Greek term askesis (practice, training or exercise). Originally associated with any form of disciplined practice, the term ascetic has come to mean anyone who practices a renunciation of worldly pursuits to achieve spiritual attainment. The Greek discipline of askesis also was practiced by warriors and athletes to attain optimal bodily fitness and grace. The manner of life, the doctrine, or principles of someone who engages in askesis is referred to as asceticism.

In particular contexts, ascetic may connote some form of self-mortification / punishment of the body, and/or with a renunciation of pleasure; but this is not always the case.

A major motivation for asceticism has been found in religion. Religions in all ages have harbored elements of mysticism in the unending search for truth through supernatural revelations. In pursuing this search, some adherents have believed that they can be aided by the denial to themselves of pleasures and/or the infliction upon themselves of hardships. Hence, the motivation for ascetic practices and for living an ascetic life style.

Monks, yogis, hermits and — in some religions — priests also lead ascetic lives. Lao Zi, Gautama Buddha, Mahavir Swami, Jesus, Saint Anthony, and Saint Francis can all be considered ascetics. These people left their families, possessions, and homes to live a mendicant life, and in the eyes of their followers demonstrated great spiritual attainment, enlightenment, or God realization.

Asceticism in Buddhism

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Buddha as ascetic

The historical Buddha adopted an extreme ascetic life after leaving his father's palace, where he once lived in extreme luxury. At the moment of his enlightenment, the Buddha realized that neither luxury, nor asceticism, will lead to lasting happiness. Instead, he taught that a middle way that balances enjoyment with restraint is the most effective path to happiness and freedom.

The degree of moderation suggested by this middle path varies depending on the interpretation of Buddhism at hand. Some traditions emphasize ascetic life more than others.

The ascetic bhikku lifestyle comes straight from the Vinaya Pitaka of the Pali Canon Tripitaka scriptures, the monastic body of rules taught by Gautama Buddha, reflecting the way of life as lived by the Buddha and his disciples. The practitioner may adopt these rules for only a short period of time (a few months or years) or may follow them for an entire lifetime.

The Buddhist order is known as the Sangha, the community of monastics. In the Theravada school, prevalent in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, monks eat one vegetarian meal a day and fast until sunrise. Between midday and the next meal the following day, a strict life of celibacy, scripture study, chanting, meditation and occasional cleaning forms most of the duties. These practices must be conducted in a state of mindfulness and concentration, here and now, to benefit from the experience. Called the Patimokkha, 227 monastic rules govern a monk or Bhikkhu in Pali, and 311 for the Bhikkhuni nun.

In the Mahayana traditions of northern Buddhism, the rules have been lessened somewhat, and the monastics emphasize meditation more than doctrine, valuing the cultivation of liberating insight and wisdom (prajna).

Asceticism in 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.

Christian authors of late antiquity such as Origen, Jerome, John Chrysostom, and Augustine interpreted meanings of Biblical texts within a highly asceticized religious environment. Through their commentaries, they created a new “asceticized Scripture,” and in the process an asceticized version of Christianity. Scriptual examples of asceticism could be found in the lives of John the Baptist, Jesus, and St. Paul, as well as in the primitive Christian community depicted by Luke (Acts 4:32). The Dead Sea Scrolls revealed ascetic practices of the ancient Jewish sect of Essenes who took vows of abstinence to prepare for a holy war. Thus, the asceticism of practitioners like Jerome was hardly original (although some of his critics thought it was), and a desert ascetic like Antony the Great (251-356 CE) was in the tradition of ascetics in noted communities and sects of the previous centuries. Clearly, emphasis on an ascetic religious life was evident in both early Christian writings and practices. (See The Catholic Encyclopedia for a fuller discussion.)

To the uninformed modern reader, early monastic asceticism may seem to be only about sexual renunciation. However, 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. As an illustration, the systematic collection of the Apophthegmata, or Sayings of the desert fathers and mothers has more than twenty chapters divided by theme; only one chapter is devoted to porneia (“sexual lust"). (See Elizabeth A. Clark. Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in Early Christianity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.)

Distinctions between Catholic and Protestant Asceticism

The main distinction between Catholic and Protestant asceticism is that the former is “other-worldly” while the latter is “inner-worldly." The contrast is evident in the metaphors employed by each. Medieval asceticism had implied a contemplative possession of the holy; Reformation asceticism represented devout action. The Catholic saw himself as a divine vessel; the Protestant ascetic saw himself as a divine tool. The Catholic had viewed action in the world as a danger to one's salvation, and thus turned to contemplation. The Protestant found assurance in mastery over the world and held contemplation to be a form of self indulgence. Inward experience was eclipsed by an outwardly pious and active life. Protestants were compelled to engage in strenuous, protracted efforts to carry out God's purpose. The drive toward action compelled each individual to constantly seek out tasks to perform and then carry them out carefully and systematically - what amounted to an "asceticism of duty." In its own way, worldly asceticism imposed upon the Protestant layman a discipline every bit as severe as that of the Catholic monk. Jean-Jacques Rousseau observed that Calvinists lived "like monks within the world."

Indeed, much of Protestant asceticism can be attributed to Calvinism. An examination of the personal habits and statements of John Calvin (1509-1564) are instructive. According to his biographers, the great reformer's adult life represented a stance of sobriety, a compromise between extreme asceticism and natural enjoyment. The mature Calvin commented, "We are not forbidden to laugh or to drink wine," suggesting that he had moved away from the ascetic discipline of his youth. His personal sobriety, however, stands in contrast to the tone of Calvinism which succeeded him. Calvin's disciples, notably John Knox, chose to downplay teachings on moderation; instead, defining the moral life as one of self-denial. Calvinism’s original doctrines were transformed into a harsh ascetic discipline, an extreme legalism, an acutely rationalized theory of life, and an intensified mood for work. With few exceptions, the prevailing mood of Calvinism after its founder's death was toward more severe doctrines and practices. {It's important to note that not all Puritans were ascetics, and that moderate forms of Puritanism flourished in Europe and America.)

This form of asceticism obliged each individual to exert will-power and constancy in all aspects of one's life. The great Protestant delusion was (and is) that human existence is shaped by will. Protestant asceticism required not only mastery over the world but mastery of the flesh. Vice began where physical gratification was sought for its own sake. Appetite was conceived as a form of "possession." Suppression became virtually a fetish. Thus did Protestant asceticism evolve into a rigid moralism. Puritan leaders preached of great moral peril in dancing, attending the theater, gambling, smoking, and drinking, as well as immodesty, and sexual incontinence.

This severe discipline and repression of desires had its rewards in the context of the bargain struck between the Puritan and his God. It constituted what Michael Walzer termed “spiritual commercialism,” ‘’i.e.’’, for so much obedience there would be so much grace awarded. Thus, the Calvinist engaged in a system of “moral bookkeeping" which marked in indelible ink the credits and debits which had to be balanced before the Final Reckoning. (See J. T. McNeill, The History and Character of Calvinism, Oxford University Press, 1954.)

Hindu Asceticism

Indian holy men, or Sadhus, are known for the extreme forms self-mortification they occasionally practice. These include extreme acts of devotion to a deity or principle, such as vowing never to use one leg or the other, or to hold an arm in the air for a period of months or years. The particular types of asceticism involved vary from sect to sect, and from holy man to holy man.

Asceticism in Islam

Asceticism. like mysticism, was foreign to Mohammed, whose piety was eminently social.

The muslim name for asceticism is zuhd.

Asceticism in Sufism

Sufism evolved not as a mystical but as an ascetic movement, as even the name suggests; Sufi refers to a rough woollen robe of the ascetic. A natural bridge from asceticism to mysticism has often been crossed by Muslim ascetics. Through meditation on the Koran and praying to God, the muslim aesthetic believes that he draws near to God, and by leading an ascetic life paves the way for absorption in God, the Sufi way to salvation. (See Alfred Braunthal. Salvation and the Perfect Society. University of Massachusetts Press, 1979.)