Man who devoted his life to spiritual perfection, is called an ascetic. The word "ascetic" in Greek language means "practicing their anything. Originally meant preparing athletes for competition, and then thought that austerity is the desire for a virtuous life, struggle with bad habits and vices.

Asceticism as a way of life moderate and devoid of any kind of excesses, more than one thousand years. Ascetics have always existed, at all times, with the most ancient times. Ascetic – a hermit who voluntarily chose for himself a secluded and rather harsh way of life. In order to achieve certain spiritual goals, he spends his life in austerity and abstinence, respecting the data him vows.

By example the ascetic showed to all people, how can you improve body and mind, controlling the passions and controlling our unbridled desires. The word "ascetic" is derived from the Greek "austerity", in translation meaning a kind of training exercise. Austerity in the most General sense is a system of spiritual and psycho-physical exercises that reflect the essence of the religion on which it is formed. This practice is very common in many types of cultures.

Hinduism

In ancient India, the acquisition of power and high status by austerities — Tapas was the exclusive privilege of Brahmins. Penance was considered a sure way to achieve supernatural powers and even gained a power that allows you to stand on a par with the gods. According to legend, the God of wealth Kubera was not born of God, and he has become after many years of severe asceticism.

The inhabitants of ancient India, with austerity expected to gain supernatural powers and to achieve equal gods power. Forms of self-torture resorted to by Indian ascetics, impressed they could for months to keep his hands above his head or stand on one leg.

In Hinduism asceticism has attached a very high value. It placed above sacrifice and assimilate him supernatural power. Hence, not only the people engaged in asceticism, but by the gods he moved to the sky, talking to the Hindu legends. In the highest stage of asceticism ecstasy as an inexhaustible source Indians saw the supernatural secret of creative force that creatively acts not only on the Hindu ascetics, but to the gods. 

Moreover, asceticism was considered the only means of liberation from the chain of rebirth. The task asceticism was part of a gradual partial liberation of man from material external material world and attachment to himself. The secondary task of asceticism was to debunk around the person the value of external temptations of life and to destroy in the human internal temptation-the attraction to yourself, personal life. 

The Indians are so much "fond" of the austerity that there have been cases of Exodus from the world as much as bramen families, about what was published public laws, protecting the life of this world.  

Buddhism

According to the doctrine of the Buddhists, asceticism is one of the ways to reach enlightenment. But we should not give up right away and everything. First, you need to drink the entire Cup of life to the bottom and then recognizing her, disappointed in her. By and large, the ascetic was not ideal in Buddhism, for performing austerities for the sake of personal, unlike the Bodhisattvas, who are concerned about the greater good.

At age 29, Gautama Buddha was joined by five ascetics in the hope that the mortification will lead him to enlightenment and peace. After six years of strict asceticism, never nearer to the goal, he broke up with the ascetics and began to lead a more moderate lifestyle and conduct meditation in a different way.

He came to the conclusion that mortification of the flesh is meaningless, and should not kill any living beings, including yourself. This episode in the life of the Buddha is often shown in the paintings, illustrating his biography, in the temples.

A separate school of Buddhism, however, use an ascetic practice (Bhikshu) in monastic life. In particular, the Japanese school Tendai. Asceticism is also found in syncretic schools on the basis of Buddhism, for example, Shugendo.

Forms of ssceticism in Buddhism:

1. Abstinence in food 
2. Celibacy 
3. Poverty

Islam

The meaning of Islamic asceticism, which is called "zuhd", is that not worth to be sad about worldly things, which missed, but we should not rejoice over the things of the world acquired. Zuhd, which follows the Islamic ascetic, is primarily a rejection of all that distracts from Allah. 

In Islam, asceticism termed zuhd (Arabic. زهد), and ascetics are called sakigami. In the first centuries of the Hijra ascetic mood has affected almost all sects of Islam. They often used the terms nisk ("piety", "selfless"), and Kane ("moderation and discipline of desires") and var' ("extreme caution in distinguishing between permissible and forbidden religious law"), but in the VIII century, these concepts have replaced the term zuhd.

The theme of Sunda seen in early collections of hadith, and hagiographic literature and Sufi a study of the works of X—XIII centuries, the Concept of zuhd formed in the environment of eminent personalities of the early Muslim piety (zuhhad, among them Hasan al-Basri, Sufyan as-Sauri, Ibrahim Ibn Adham, etc. the Concept of zuhd was formed, perhaps under the influence of Christian monasticism, Manichaeism and Indian tradition, and razvivalas in line with Sufi tradition. Sunni (especially Hanbali) understanding of zuhd involves the suppression of the passions by abstinence from worldly pleasures, poverty, reduction of sleep and food, and also practice "the precepts endorse and prohibit condemn".

Most medieval Islamic scholars added to his name the epithet Zahid. Islam prohibits extreme austerity and calls for moderation in it. Extreme manifestations of Sunda was observed in the practice of the Sufis, resulting in perfect indifference to hardship and a complete quietism. Among such manifestations: the rejection of all that is transient, focusing on the God of their thoughts, purification of the heart from everything that might distract from it.

Awareness of the danger of temptation (secret pride, hypocrisy) and the introduction of school Malamute and al-Muhasibi methods of intimate self-observation has led to the development in the Sufi concept of al-zuhd Fi-z-zuhd (abstinence abstinence"). The essence of this concept is that the Sufi is liberated from all worldly things (the Dunya) and abstains from his abstinence. Thus he reaches the state in which he can safely pay attention to the worldly life and to go further on the path of knowledge of the afterlife (Akhirah). This as al-Ghazali called "satisfaction of God" (al-Istisna' bi-llah).

In the modern Muslim world the notion of zuhd and Zahid are used mainly in the meaning of godly and pious man.

Christianity

A fundamental principle of Christian asceticism is to agree to the will of God and the will of man. For the salvation of souls requires a connection of grace and human free will, and freed it can only through ascetic feats. Christians (if not ascetic-alien) concept is usually associated with a hermit monk, living a strict moral life. Under the austerity implied special exercises, which entail the mortification of the flesh. Orthodox hermit taught his will and intentions through prayer, vigil, fasting, and solitude. 

In Christianity, asceticism is understood as a binding aspiration of the human will through the deeds for the acquisition of the divine grace, the saving, healing, transforming and renewing human nature subjected to sin. Asceticism is intense effort in man in seeking the grace of the Holy spirit as a pledge of salvation and of the Kingdom of Heaven.

— Usually ascetical understand a certain culture in relation to the body. But man is not only physiology and biology, but also mental life, and spiritual. We are born into this life in unnatural condition take a distorted, corrupted by the poison of the sin nature. Therefore, a return to the good life, the healing of this nature, of course, requires effort. Sin is a disease. In order to recover from a bodily disease, you need to follow a specific health regime: not to eat spicy, avoid drafts. Asceticism is a "regime" resorted to by Christians to be healed from sin. Metropolitan ALEXIS (Kutepov)

In Christianity the term came from ancient culture. The word goes back to the Greek verb. askew, meaning skillful and diligent handling of coarse material, decoration or improvement of the home, exercise, developing physical and mental strength. Christianity has preserved this word in the voltage value, labour, effort and exercises. Along with this, this word has new meaning that was not familiar to the pagan world.

Christian asceticism became a force on the acquisition of unknown pagan world of the virtues expressed in the commandments of love of God and neighbor. Christian asceticism has come to mean a particular volitional action. It is a volitional human action that is supported by the action of God, who wants inner transformation and change of the person, helping him with His grace on the path of fulfilling the commandments. It is in the synergy (cooperation, coordination) of the two wills, divine and human, is a fundamental principle of Christian asceticism.

According to the teachings of the Holy fathers, the ascetic effort (feats) do not lead to perfection. Highlighting the physical and mental feats (both physical and spiritual or smart work), the Holy fathers affirm the need for them to confirm the zeal and desires of people in the matter of salvation, but at the same time, indicate that all ascetic efforts are not have intrinsic value. To save, transform, heal and renew the human nature can only be divine grace. Only through Its overshadowing the human feats make sense.

St. Theophan the recluse stresses that all human deeds — fasting, labor, vigils, seclusion, separation from the world, storing of feelings, reading the Scriptures and other will only exercise if they did not pass God's grace. "Assuming the deed, not on it pull your attention and heart," says the Saint, "but minuy it as something that is externally — resursy themselves for grace as willing a vessel full of God tradition". The presence of grace in the human soul marks themselves colorgenius all spiritual, love for God and neighbor, an abundance of spiritual strength for the gospel's commandments. The acquisition of grace is a living Communion with God.

The Christian understanding of asceticism synthetically can be defined as free-reasonable feat and the struggle to achieve Christian perfection. But perfection is not enclosed in the created nature of man, and therefore can not be achieved by the simple development opportunities of this nature, taken in itself, in its limitations. Perfection is thought of only in God himself, in the gift of the Holy spirit. Hence the penance, as such, is never a goal; it is only a means, only a manifestation of freedom and rationality on the way to attaining the gift of God. As a reasonable feat in its development, austerity becomes a science, art, culture. No matter how high this culture, taken in its human aspect, it has a very relative value.

Fasts, abstinence, vigil, harsh life, poverty, understood as acquisitiveness the unwillingness "to have" as freedom from the power over us of the real world, obedience to the victory over the selfish, individual will and as one of the high and perfect detections of our love for God and neighbor, asceticism, as a result of the quest of the inner crate, where you can pray to Father in secret" teachings in the word of God, not in the sense "external", so to speak academic knowledge and as napojenie itself, the spirit of grace-filled life and the knowledge of God, which is enclosed in the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Holy fathers, chastity as overcoming carnal "dumb" and generally "complex flesh" through the stay in the remembrance of God, courage, patience, and humility, compassion and charity as an expression of love for God and neighbor, faith, the same feat of love — all of this can and should be a reasonable and free human feat, but until I come sautergasse the action of divine grace, until then all this is just human action, and therefore is corruptible. All this is understood in Christianity as asceticism.