Buddha, date unknown, location unknown, coloured pencil on paper.
He practises extreme austerities in the forest:
“I thought: ‘Suppose that I, clenching my teeth and pressing my tongue against the roof of my mouth, were to beat down, constrain, and crush my mind with my awareness.’ So, clenching my teeth and pressing my tongue against the roof of my mouth, I beat down, constrained, and crushed my mind with my awareness. Just as a strong man, seizing a weaker man by the head or the throat or the shoulders, would beat him down, constrain, and crush him, in the same way I beat down, constrained, and crushed my mind with my awareness. As I did so, sweat poured from my armpits. And although tireless persistence was aroused in me, and unmuddled mindfulness established, my body was aroused and uncalm because of the painful exertion. But the painful feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain.
“I thought: ‘Suppose I were to become absorbed in the trance of non-breathing.’ So I stopped the in-breaths and out-breaths in my nose and mouth. As I did so, there was a loud roaring of winds coming out my earholes, just like the loud roar of winds coming out of a smith’s bellows; extreme forces sliced through my head, just as if a strong man were slicing my head open with a sharp sword; extreme pains arose in my head, just as if a strong man were tightening a turban made of tough leather straps around my head; extreme forces carved up my stomach cavity, just as if a butcher or his apprentice were to carve up the stomach cavity of an ox. There was an extreme burning in my body, just as if two strong men, grabbing a weaker man by the arms, were to roast and broil him over a pit of hot embers. And although tireless persistence was aroused in me, and unmuddled mindfulness established, my body was aroused and uncalm because of the painful exertion. But the painful feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain.
“Devas, on seeing me, said, ‘Gautama the contemplative is dead.’ Other devas said, ‘He isn’t dead, he’s dying.’ Others said, ‘He’s neither dead nor dying, he’s an arahant, for this is the way arahants live.’
“I thought: ‘Suppose I were to practise going altogether without food.’ Then devas came to me and said, ‘Dear sir, please don’t practise going altogether without food. If you go altogether without food, we’ll infuse divine nourishment in through your pores, and you will survive on that.’ I thought, ‘If I were to claim to be completely fasting while these devas are infusing divine nourishment in through my pores, I would be lying.’ So I dismissed them, saying, ‘Enough.’
“I thought: ‘Suppose I were to take only a little food at a time, only a handful at a time of bean soup, lentil soup, vetch soup, or pea soup.’ So I took only a little food at a time, only a handful at a time of bean soup, lentil soup, vetch soup, or pea soup. My body became extremely emaciated. Simply from my eating so little, my limbs became like the jointed segments of vine stems or bamboo stems. My backside became like a camel’s hoof. My spine stood out like a string of beads. My ribs jutted out like the jutting rafters of an old, run-down barn. The gleam of my eyes appeared to be sunk deep in my eye sockets like the gleam of water deep in a well. My scalp shrivelled and withered like a green bitter gourd, shrivelled and withered in the heat and the wind. The skin of my belly became so stuck to my spine that when I thought of touching my belly, I grabbed hold of my spine as well; and when I thought of touching my spine, I grabbed hold of the skin of my belly as well. If I urinated or defecated, I fell over on my face right there. Simply from my eating so little, if I tried to ease my body by rubbing my limbs with my hands, the hair – rotted at its roots – fell from my body as I rubbed, simply from eating so little.
People on seeing me would say, ‘Gautama the contemplative is black. Other people would say, ‘Gautama the contemplative isn’t black, he’s brown.’ Others would say, ‘Gautama the contemplative is neither black nor brown, he’s golden-skinned.’ So much had the clear, bright colour of my skin deteriorated, simply from eating so little.
“I thought: ‘Whatever priests or contemplatives in the past have felt painful, racking, piercing feelings due to their striving, this is the utmost. None have been greater than this. Whatever priests or contemplatives in the future will feel painful, racking, piercing feelings due to their striving, this is the utmost. None will be greater than this. Whatever priests or contemplatives in the present are feeling painful, racking, piercing feelings due to their striving, this is the utmost. None is greater than this. But with this racking practise of austerities I haven’t attained any superior human state, any distinction in knowledge or vision worthy of the noble ones. Could there be another path to Awakening?’”
[MN 36]
30. Seated Buddha, date unknown, location unknown.
31. Buddha on Steps to Swayambunath Stupa, date unknown, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, painted stone.
32. Seated Buddha, date unknown, Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Burma.
33. Seated Buddha, date unknown, Taungtoo Zedi, Inle Lake, Burma.
He confronts fear and terror head-on:
“I stayed in the sort of places that are awe-inspiring and make your hair stand on end, such as park-shrines, forest-shrines, and tree-shrines. And while I was staying there a wild animal would come, or a bird would make a twig fall, or wind would rustle the fallen leaves. The thought would occur to me: ‘Is this that fear and terror coming?’ Then the thought occurred to me: ‘Why do I just keep waiting for fear? What if I were to subdue fear and terror in whatever state they come?’ So when fear and terror came while I was walking back and forth, I would not stand or sit or lie down. I would keep walking back and forth until I had subdued that fear and terror. When fear and terror came while I was standing, I would not walk or sit or lie down. I would keep standing until I had subdued that fear and terror. When fear and terror came while I was sitting, I would not lie down or stand up or walk. I would keep sitting until I had subdued that fear and terror. When fear and terror came while I was lying down, I would not sit up or stand or walk. I would keep lying down until I had subdued that fear and terror.”
[MN 4]
It may be noticed that the question of the relations between Buddhism and the different systems of Hindu philosophy is as difficult as it is interesting. It is certain that, long before Gautama’s time, the Brahmans had paid great attention to the deepest questions of ontology and ethics, and were divided into different schools from which Gautama drew many of his metaphysical tenets. The originality of his teachings arises more from the importance that he attached to moral training above ritual or penance, and to the systematised form in which he presented ideas derived from those of various previous thinkers. Like all other leaders of thought, Gautama was the creature of his time, and it must not be supposed that his philosophy was entirely of his own creation. One of the Chinese authorities gives long accounts of the discussions he held with Bhagava, Alara, and Udraka, which are interesting as being founded on ancient tradition. One of the most frequently inculcated tenets of the Brahmans was a belief in the efficacy of penance as a means of gaining superhuman power and insight; when Gautama, after studying the systems of Alara and Udraka, was still unsatisfied, he resolved to go apart and see what progress he himself could make by this prescribed method. He withdrew accordingly into the jungles of Uruvela, near the present temple of Bodh Gaya. He stayed there for six years, attended by five faithful disciples, and gave himself up to the severest penance until he was wasted away to a shadow by fasting and self-mortification. Such powerful self-control has always excited the wonder and admiration of weaker men, and we need not be surprised that Gautama’s fame is said to have spread “like the sound of a great bell hung in the canopy of the skies.” If by these means he
