The Buddha’s report of his asceticism:
“I was an ascetic, the most extreme ascetic. I was rough, the most extreme in roughness. I was scrupulous, the most extreme in scrupulousness. I was secluded, the most extreme in seclusion. “This is how it was for me, in terms of asceticism: I was cloth-less, rejecting conventions, licking my hands, not coming when called, not staying when asked. I didn’t consent to food brought to me, to food dedicated to me, or to an invitation to a meal. I accepted nothing from the mouth of a pot or from the mouth of a bowl. I accepted nothing from across a threshold, across a stick, across a pestle, from two eating together, from a pregnant woman, from a nursing woman, from a woman living with a man, from where it was announced that food was to be distributed, from where a dog was waiting or flies were buzzing. I took no fish or meat. I drank no liquor, wine, or fermented drink. “I limited myself to one house & one morsel a day, or two houses & two morsels… seven houses & seven morsels. I lived on one saucerful a day, two… seven saucerfuls a day. I took food once a day, once every two days… once every seven days, and so on up to a fortnight, devoted to regulating my intake of food. “I was an eater of greens, millet, wild rice, hide-parings, moss, rice bran, rice-scum, sesame flour, grass, or cow dung. I lived on forest roots & berries. I fed on fallen fruits. “I wore hemp, canvas, shrouds, refuse rags, tree bark, antelope hide, strips of antelope hide, kusa-grass garments, bark garments, wood-shaving garments, head-hair garments, animal wool, owl’s wings. I was a hair-&-beard puller, one devoted to the practice of pulling out my hair & beard. I was a stander, one who rejected seats. I was a kneeler, one devoted to the exertion of kneeling. I was a spike-mattresser, one who made my bed on a bed of spikes. I was a third-time-in-the-evening bather, one who stayed devoted to the practice of bathing in water. “Thus in a variety of ways I stayed devoted to the practice of tormenting & afflicting the body. That’s how it was for me, in terms of asceticism.”
-MN12, directly quoted from Noble Warrior.
He is dirty, he hides from people, then this:
“I would crawl on all fours to the cow-sheds when the cows had gone out and the cowherds had gone off. Whatever manure there was from young nursing calves: I took just that for food. As long as my own urine and excrement hadn’t run out, I took just my own urine and excrement for food. That’s how it was for me, in terms of subsisting on the great foul things as food. (Op cit)
He suffered the extremes in weather, he slept in charnel grounds, people urinated on him, and he still had equanimity. I think most people are seeking to be that kind of equanimity, or at least fantasize about it when they are in pain.
Shrine at a Sangharakshita remembrance ceremony, he died October 30, 2018.
Candles, flowers, Sangharakshita and Ambedkar photos. Manjushri. Then a fairly plain larger Buddha surrounded by many little Buddhas embedded in the walls.
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