ascetic

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adj

Definition: austere
Antonyms: sybaritic

n

Definition: abstainer
Antonyms: sybarite

Ascetics practice extremely focused religion, employing various techniques to bring about spiritual discipline. From Hindus to Buddhists, from Jews to Christians to Muslims, virtually every world religion and most indigenous ones have ascetics.

Native American vision quests included denying oneself food and water. Christian monks sat on poles and scourged themselves with whips. The Buddha himself followed the path of asceticism, reaching the point of eating just one grain of rice a day, though it was only in his abandonment of asceticism that he found enlightenment. Some Jains go to extreme degrees to break down the fleshly "crust" formed by Karma.

The idea is that by denying oneself and punishing the "flesh," the spirit will be free to dominate and come into its own. This view always sees the spirit as somehow being "trapped" in the body. The body, with its appetites and desires, is generally seen as evil. Asceticism is the attempt to break free, and it is a direct opposite to so-called wholeness religious movements.

Sources: Ellwood, Robert S., and Barbara A. McGraw. Many Peoples, Many Faiths. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. Renard, John. The Handy Religion Answer Book. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2002.

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(Greek, hermit, also one who exercises) In the early Church one who practised rigorous self-discipline, abstinence, and austerity. The association of religious excellence with extreme self-mortification is found in Jainism, and some types of Buddhism.

asceticism

By the time of the Buddha asceticism was a well-established feature of the Indian religious tradition, deriving from the ancient Vedic (see Veda) practice of austerities or tapas (‘heating’ or ‘burning’). In several discourses the Buddha describes and criticizes the many and varied practices of contemporary groups. Many went naked while others wore garments of cloth, hemp, rags, or hair. Some imitated the behaviour of animals and slept on the ground or on beds of thorns. Many restricted the type of food they would eat, the frequency of consumption, and the type of person they would accept it from. These ascetic practices were also being supplemented by the more sophisticated psycho-physical techniques of yoga. Although the Buddha prohibited extreme practices of this kind he allowed thirteen optional practices (dhutanga) of a moderately ascetic kind but resisted an attempt to make five of them compulsory for monks.

In the early stages of his quest for enlightenment (bodhi) the Buddha experimented with both yogic and ascetic practices and described his experience with two particular methods. The first involved retention of the breath for long periods of time but resulted only in a violent headache. The second was fasting, which he pursued until his body became emaciated and he later describes his appearance in this condition as follows: ‘All my limbs became like the joints of withered creepers…my gaunt ribs became like the crazy rafters of a tumble-down shed my scalp became shrivelled and shrunk and the skin of my belly clung to my backbone.’ A famous sculpture in the Lahore Museum depicts the Buddha in this wretched state. Renouncing these practices as counterproductive the Buddha took food once again and realized the importance of a harmonious relationship between mind and body in the pursuit of the religious life. He had now experienced both the extremes of a life of ease and comfort (as a prince) and the life of extreme austerity and asceticism. Neither was satisfactory and the Buddha finally chose the ‘middle way’ (madhyamā-pratipad) between the two as the only sure path to liberation which he then quickly gained. Thus his own personal experience became central to the formation of Buddhist views regarding extreme attitudes and practices of all kinds, and extreme asceticism thereafter found no real foothold in the tradition.

The Buddha Fasting

Practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline.

IN BRIEF: Practicing abstinence and devotion; usually a spiritual practice.

Brother Sebastian lived an ascetic existence.

Tutor's tip: Vinegar like substances are considered to be "acetic." An "ascetic" is one who lives with self-denial for spiritual or religious purposes.

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For a list of words related to ascetic, see:

• Introverted, Reserved, Isolated, or Mysterious

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See words rhyming with "ascetic."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Ascetic.

Common misspelling(s) of ascetic

• asetic

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - asketisk
n. - asket

Nederlands (Dutch)
ascetisch, zich ontzeggend

Français (French)
adj. - ascétique
n. - ascète

Deutsch (German)
adj. - asketisch, (selbstdiszipliniert und karg)
n. - Asket

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (θρησκ., μτφ.) ασκητής
adj. - ασκητικός

Italiano (Italian)
ascetico

Português (Portuguese)
n. - asceta (m) (f), beato (m)
adj. - ascético

Русский (Russian)
аскетичный, отшельник

Español (Spanish)
adj. - ascético
n. - asceta

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - asket
adj. - asketisk

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
苦己的, 苦行的, 修道的, 禁欲者, 修道者

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 苦己的, 苦行的, 修道的
n. - 禁欲者, 修道者

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 금욕주의의, 지나치게 엄한
n. - 금욕주의자, 수행자

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 禁欲主義者, 苦行者, 行者
adj. - 禁欲主義の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) زهدي, زاهد, ناسك, متقشف (صفه) زهدي, خاص بالزهد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮סיגופי, נזירי‬
n. - ‮פרוש, סגפן‬

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