Asceticism

Asceticism denotes a life which is characterised by refraining from worldly pleasures (austerity). Those who practice ascetic lifestyles often perceive their practices as virtuous and pursue them to achieve greater spirituality.

In a more cynical context, ascetic may connote some form of self-mortification, ritual punishment of the body or harsh renunciation of pleasure. However the word certainly does not necessarily imply a negative connotation.

Etymology

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 higher intellectual, emotional, or spiritual goals.

Many warriors and athletes, in Greek society, applied the discipline of askesis 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.

Occurrences

Observation of ascetic lifestyles have appeared in both religious and secular settings. For example, ancient Hebrew sects fasted in order to become Holy, early Greeks undertook a regimen of severe physical discipline to prepare for battle, and Stoic philosophers disciplined their will against a life of sensual pleasure to achieve 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.

Monks, yogis, hermits and — in some religions — priests also lead ascetic lives. Lao Zi, Gautama Buddha, Mahavir Swami, 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.

Hinduism

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.

• See also Tapas

Buddhism

The historical Buddha adopted an extreme ascetic life after leaving his father's palace, where he once lived in extreme luxury. Prior to his enlightenment, the Buddha rejected extreme asceticism as an impediment to ultimate freedom from suffering (nibbana), choosing instead a path that met the needs of the body without crossing over into luxury and indulgence. This position became known as the Middle Path or Middle Way, and became one of the central organizing principles of Buddhist philosophy.

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 basic lifestyle of an ordained Buddhist practitioner (bhikkhu, monk, or bhikkhuni, nun) as described in the Vinaya Pitaka was intended to be neither excessively austere nor hedonistic. Monks and nuns were intended to have enough of lifes basic requisites (particularly food, medicine, clothing, and shelter) to live safely and healthily, without being troubled by illness or weakness. While the life described in the Vinaya may appear difficult, it would be pehaps better described as Spartan rather than truly ascetic. Deprivation for its own sake is not valued- indeed, it may be seen as a sign of attachment to ones own renunciation. The aim of the monastic lifestyle was to prevent concern for the material circumstances of life from intruding on the monk or nun's ability to engage in religious practice. To this end, having inadequite possessions was regarded as being no more desireably than to have too many.

Initially, the Buddha rejected a number of more specific ascetic practices that some monks requested to follow. These practices- such as sleeping in the open, dwelling in a cemetary or cremation ground, wearing only cast-off rags, etc.- were initially seen as too extreme, being liable to either upset the social values of the surrounding community, or as likely to create schisms among the Sangha by encouraging monks to compete in austerity. Despite their early prohibition, recorded in the Pali Canon, these practices (known as the Dhutanga practices, or in Thai as thudong) eventually became acceptable to the monastic community. They were recorded by Buddhaghosa in his Visuddhimagga, and later became significant in the practices of the Thai Forest Tradition.

The Mahayana traditions of Buddhism received a slightly different code of discipline than that used by the various Theravada sects. This fact, combined with significant regional and cultural variations, has resulted in differing attitudes towards asceticism in different areas of the Mahayana world. Particularly notable is the role that vegetarianism plays in East Asian Buddhism, particularly in China and Japan. While Theravada monks are compelled to eat whatever is provided for them by their lay supporters, including meat, Mahayana monks in East Asia are most often vegetarian. This is attributable to a number of factors, including Mahayana-specific teachings regarding vegetarianism, East Asian cultural tendencies that predate the introduction of Buddhism (some of which may have their roots in Confucianism), and the different manner in which monks support themselves in East Asia. While Southeast Asian and Sri Lankan monks generally continue to make daily begging rounds to receive their daily meal, monks in East Asia more commonly receive bulk foodstuffs from lay supporters (or the funds to purchase them) and are fed from a kitchen located on the site of the temple or monastery, and staffed either by working monks or by lay supporters.

Similarly, divergent scriptural and cultural trends have brought a stronger emphasis on asceticism to some Mahayana practices. The Lotus Sutra, for instance, contains a story of a bodhisattva who burns himself as an offering to the assembly of all Buddhas in the world. This has become a patterning story for self-sacrifice in the Mahayana world, probably providing the inspiration for the spectacular auto-cremation of the Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc during the 1960's, as well as several other incidents.

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 Saint 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, 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 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. As Protestant belief holds 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." Among Puritans, for example, suppression became virtually a fetish, with rigid moralism a defining characteristic. 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.)

Islam

Asceticism, like mysticism, was foreign to Muhammad whose piety was eminently social. The Arabic word for asceticism is zuhd.

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 ascetic 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.)