Chapter 24: The Ascetic Practices｜Extremes and the Turning Point

After the sheltered palace life and the shock of the Four Encounters, Prince Siddhartha turned to the opposite extreme—asceticism.

Six Years of Austerities 

Together with five companions, he retreated into the forest, practicing the harshest disciplines: prolonged fasting, breath control, and long hours of meditation. Texts describe him surviving on a single grain a day, his body reduced to skin and bones.

 

Gandharan Depictions

This stage became one of the most striking motifs in Gandharan art:

• Freestanding statues of the Fasting Buddha — The most renowned example is the Fasting Buddha in the Lahore Museum. With ribs, veins, and sunken cheeks carved in extraordinary detail, it exemplifies the fusion of Indian ascetic imagery and Greco-Roman naturalism.
• Narrative reliefs — Panels often show the emaciated Siddhartha seated in the forest, attended by the Five Ascetics or watched by celestial beings, who seem to acknowledge both the severity and the futility of such practices.
• Material and technique — Carved in grey or green schist, the sculptors used the hardness of the stone to render the tension of skin over bone with astonishing precision.

The Turning Point

Yet, these practices did not yield enlightenment. On the verge of collapse, Siddhartha accepted milk-rice offered by Sujātā, a village girl. Some Gandharan reliefs depict this tender moment: the girl presenting a bowl, the Bodhisattva regaining strength, marking a shift toward balance.

 

The Middle Way

Having experienced both extremes—royal indulgence and self-mortification—Siddhartha realized that truth lies in neither. Thus was born the Buddhist principle of the Middle Way: avoiding both luxury and self-destruction.

 

Art as Philosophy in Stone

Gandharan artists translated this philosophy into stone:

• The skeletal Fasting Buddha embodied the danger of excess austerity.
• Sujata’s offering symbolized recovery and balance.
• The subsequent Enlightened Buddha crowned this journey.

The ascetic episode, therefore, was not a failure but the essential turning point where philosophy took root and the path to awakening truly began.