Asceticism and Its Critics

Scholars of religion have always been fascinated by asceticism. Scholars have often been overlooked, however, that in the history of religions ascetic beliefs and practices have also been strongly criticised, by followers of the same religious tradition as well as by outsiders. The respective sources provide sufficient evidence of such critical strands but surprisingly as yet no attempt has been made to analyse this criticism of asceticism systematically. This book is a first attempt of filling this gap. Ten studies present cases from both Asian and European traditions: classicaland medieval Hinduism, early and contemporary Buddhism in South and East Asia