Once upon a time, ninety one aeons ago, the Bodhisatta set himself to examine into the false asceticism. So he became a recluse.

According to the Naked Ascetics, he covered his body with dust, lived solitary and lonely, ran away like a deer from the face of men; his food was small fish, cowdung, and other refuse. In order that his vigil might not be disturbed, he took up his abode in a thicket in the jungle.

In the snows of winter, he came out by night from the sheltering thicket to the open air, returning with the sun rise to his thicket again; he was wet with the driving snows by night, and in the day time he was drenched by the drizzle from the branches of the thicket. Thus day and night alike, he endured the extremity of cold.

In summer, he lived in the open air by day, and by night in the forest. He has to live in heat and sweat.

But when after a life spent in the rigours of this asceticism, the vision of hell rose before the Bodhisatta as he lay dying, he realized the worthlessness of all his austerities, and in that supreme moment broke away from his delusions, laid hold of the real truth, and was re born in the Heaven of Devas.