Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.128

c8.128

Then in the woods of Uruvelâ Gotama is said to have lived many years in the severest discipline. It is described how he sat there, his tongue pressed against his palate, resolutely "checking, repressing, chastening" his aspirations, waiting the moment, when the supernatural illumination should come upon him. It comes not. He struggles for a still more perfect performance by imposing the greatest strains on his physical frame: he holds his breath: he denies himself nourishment. Five other ascetics are living in his neighbourhood: in astonishment at the resolution with which he pursues his mortifications, they wait to see will he be made partaker of the longed-for enlightenment, in order that they may tread as his disciples the path of deliverance indicated by him. His body becomes attenuated by self-inflicted pain, but he finds himself no nearer the goal. He sees that self-mortifications cannot lead to enlightenment: so he takes nourishment again freely to regain his former strength. Then his five companions abandon him: he seems to them to have deserted his own cause, and there appears to be nothing more to hope for or of him. So Gotama remains alone.