Asceticism

Asceticism consists of practices of self-discipline undertaken voluntarily in order to achieve a higher state of being. Asceticism denotes a life which is characterized by refraining from worldly pleasures (austerity). Those who practice ascetic lifestyles often perceive their practices as virtuous and pursue them to achieve greater spirituality. Many ascetics believe the action of purifying the body helps to purify the soul, and thus obtain a greater connection with the Divine or inner peace. This may take the form of self-mortification, rituals or harsh renunciations of pleasure. However, ascetics maintain that self-imposed constraints bring them greater freedom in various areas of their lives, such as an increased ability to think clearly and resist potentially destructive short term impulses.…

Because of this, they rejected all ideas relating to pagan beliefs including the idea that anyone, no matter social class or status, has access to the divine. Thus, Christian monks began to stress the idea that “an utterly distinct lifestyle” was what gave them access God (Brown, 94). This effectively separated the ideals of the pagans from the Christian monks. For the pagans, contact with the divine was available to anyone devoted enough. For Christians, this was only available to those who…

Recurrent within many practices, including many religions, ascetic ideals aim to relieve those who adopt them as principle from the futile and unenjoyable undertakings that we, as humans, are accustomed to living. Asceticism is the repression of desires and pleasures in the hopes that there is a greater payoff in teetotalism seeing as it coheres to spirituality or a sense of the divine. According to Nietzsche, worth placed upon art through philosophy, along with alternative yet significant…

Borrowing from the spirit of asceticism depicted in the “Christian Directory” of R. Baxter, a Calvinist Presbyterian believer, Weber infers that, by safeguarding a place in God’s grace for the believers, the Calvinist asceticism permits them to complete the work assigned to them by God. Thus, to the Calvinist Christians, labor is the main path of asceticism as well as the purpose of life. In the same vein, commitment to a legitimate profession is accepted by the Quakers as a practice of…

Throughout the many years that Buddhism has existed it has gone through many substantial changes. From all the different sects that were created, an array of different styles of Buddhist practice arose. Two styles of Buddhism that are mentioned throughout this passage focus on the forest monks as well as the official sangha in Bangkok. Both these styles of Buddhism strive for the same goal, but the path to the goal are very different. Forest monks use mainly meditation and wandering as their…

Siddhartha’s life mimics the Buddha’s: departure from father’s home, years spent battling/struggling with worldly desires and utmost asceticism, and the realization of the Middle Path as the only road to Enlightenment. The major difference: the Buddha left a body of sermons and teachings, unlike Siddhartha. Being (Gotama) is represented in the existence of a man who has found unity. Becoming (Siddhartha) is represented in the presence of a man who has identified himself with perfection although…

Monk's dress we are given three telling details: The sleeves of his cassock are "profiled," or trimmed at the cuff, with "grys," an expensive gray fur; the hood he wears on his head is fastened with an elaborate gold brooch called a love-knot; and his boots are soft and pliant””( Swisher 40). Chaucer’s Medieval Monk is told to have expensive clothing, jewelry, and a love- knot which tells the reader that he is an aristocrat. Back in the Medieval times, Monks would never wear expensive furs and…

The Buddhist Nun from the Heaven Today I learned interesting story from my teacher about an Asian girl who wanted to be a Buddhist nun, but her father wasn’t happy with her desire and he decided to kill her. The story was told that a young girl did not want to get married but instead she wantsed to be a Buddhist nun. In Asian culture women had to get married when they are a young age and her responsibility is to take care of her husband and children. If she doesn’t follow the culture, she is…

Another way the Buddha attempts to maintain the principle of Buddhism was to place “eight chief rules” as a condition of accepting women to enter the monastic life. Although these rules stressed the superiority of monks over nuns, their development actually empowered women’s image in the society. The “eight chief rules” placed nuns in a subordinate position. For instance, nuns were not allowed to spend in the district without a monk during rainy season and they cannot provide advice or disregard…

It was in the fifth century when a young man was sent to Rome. St Benedict was born in around the year 480 in Nursia, Italy and is the twin of St Scholastica. Benedict abandoned his literary studies and left home at around 500, making him around 20 years old at the time. He took his nurse with him and left all of his wealth and inheritance behind and fled out of Rome. St Benedict left home not looking to be a hermit, but to find a place away from the city because he disapproved of his fellow…