TORTURING THE BODY

After leaving Uddaka, Ascetic Gotama and his five friends wandered from place to place as before. He practised fasting which was thought to be one of the best ways to acquire wisdom. He, too at the begining took little food. Later onn he only ate one meal a day for months. Then he took food once in two or three days. He was eating roots of plants, leaves and juice of various leaves and fruits. Because of the lack of proper food his body became so thin that his legs became like bamboo stricks, his backbone was like a rope, his rib-bones in the chest were like an uncompleted roof of a house, his eyes sank right inside, like a stone in a deep well. His skin was so dry and wrinkled that hairs were missing. In fact he looked like a living skeleton all bones without any flesh!. He suffered terrible pain and hunger and he thought that the only way to happiness was to be most unhappy now. He continued to meditate but still he did not know anything new.
Another way of torturing his body and mind was holding his breath for a ling time until he felt terrible pains in the ears, head and the whole body. Then he began to be alone or practised loneliness. During the full Moon and New Moon nights he went out to the forests, cemetery and other lonely places to meditate. He became frightened at first in these place, especially when wild animal came. But he never ran away from these places he stayed behind bravely in these dreadful places meditating all the time. He used to wear rags to torn dirty clothes from grave-yards and rubbish heaps during this period. In the hot summer he stayed indoors at night and in the burning sun in the day time. In the cold winter at midnight he used to dip himself in the icy cold water and stay for a long time. This way to torture his body and mind even more and suffer even more than ever.
For six long year he did all these practices and in spite of the great pain and suffering he did not find out anything. He finally thought that this was not the way to find out wisdom. One day he fainted in a place called Uruvela. Then a goat boy came and gave him some milk and that made him better. Soon he began to take more milk and food and built up his body. When the five friends saw that he was not fasting anymore, they felt disappointed and left him alone.