Australia and the World Past and Present

The Buddha rejected extreme asceticism.

However, he did accept moderate discipline.

Before his own enlightenment, the Buddha practiced severe asceticism.

The Buddha began his spiritual quest in a highly ascetic environment, experimenting with extreme practices that were already common among the wandering renunciants in ancient India. These included severe fasting, exposure to heat and cold, sleep deprivation, and extended meditation in isolation.

He later concluded that these practices were ineffective for achieving enlightenment.

Instead, he advocated the Middle Way. That is, he recommended avoiding indulging in luxury or sensual pleasures. He also advised avoiding the other extreme – self-mortification.

After his awakening, the Buddha recommended a balanced path in which ethical conduct, mental cultivation, and wisdom are developed together.

Nevertheless, the early Buddhist tradition did not abandon asceticism entirely. Instead, it reframed ascetic practice as optional, skillful discipline rather than a necessary path of bodily punishment.

The Buddha did support celibacy and owning few possessions.

He suggested that one should eat modestly and live in simple dwellings.

He did not advocate weakening the body or clouding the mind.

In the Theravada monastic context, ascetic practices are known as dhutaṅga. These are optional practices taken on voluntarily by monks or nuns who wish to intensify their practice.

Such practices include wearing only robes made from discarded cloth, dwelling in the forest, dwelling in the open air, dwelling in a charnel ground or remaining sitting rather than lying down.

These practices are not required by the monastic code, but are regarded as supportive of simplicity.

Sleeping in forests or charnel grounds (practices that were more common in ancient times than today) was intended to cultivate fearlessness, a mindfulness of death, and detachment from bodily comfort.

In Vajrayana Buddhism, especially in Tibetan traditions, ascetic elements appear in specific yogic practices. Some practitioners engage in retreats involving isolation, fasting, or meditative heat practices such as tummo. These practices are typically done under the guidance of senior practitioners.

Asceticism in Japanese Buddhism often takes on distinctive forms, particularly within Zen traditions such as Sōtō and Rinzai.

While Japanese Buddhism as a whole includes a wide range of practices (from Pure Land devotional chanting to esoteric rituals in Shingon), the Zen schools are often perceived as the most austere. They emphasise bodily discipline, and sustained meditative effort as central to awakening.

The intensity of Zen practice becomes especially clear during sesshin (接心 or 摂心). These are intensive meditation retreats that can last anywhere from several days to a week or longer.

During sesshin, participants typically follow a highly structured schedule that begins before dawn and continues late into the night.

The day is divided into alternating blocks of zazen, walking meditation (kinhin), brief ritual meals, and short rest periods.

Silence is usually maintained, sleep is minimal, and physical fatigue is deliberately encountered as part of the training.

One feature of Zen ascetic discipline is the use of kyōsaku (警策), a wooden stick used by senior monks to strike practitioners on the shoulders during meditation.

While this may appear harsh, it is traditionally understood not as punishment but as a means of restoring alertness and posture when concentration weakens.

Historically, Japanese Buddhism also developed more extreme forms of ascetic practice outside formal Zen institutions.

One of the most well-known forms of asceticism in Japanese Buddhism is the kaihōgyō of the Tendai tradition. Monks undertake prolonged periods of running meditation around Mount Hiei for hundreds of days and cover immense distances.

Such practices illustrate the broader Japanese Buddhist fascination with endurance-based spiritual discipline, where physical hardship is used to confront ego and impermanence directly.

The Buddha didn’t see ascetic practices as ends in themselves. They were always to support one’s enlightenment. He did not advocate doing exercise to the point of exhaustion. For example, he found extreme fasting to be unproductive.

Nevertheless, some Buddhists traditions have developed strong ascetic traditions.

Certain practices in Tibetan Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism stand out. Within Japanese Buddhism, the Zen traditions and the kaihōgyō of the Tendai tradition are clear examples.

Can we picture the Buddha doing the kaihōgyō? Probably not. He would have been much more inclined to sit down and meditate. And when he did travel, he was more likely to walk than to run.