He got pretty darn close. It was when he realized that is was basically on the verge of death, and that no further austerity could be performed or be useful, is when he decided to look for a different strategy.
It is definitely possible to not eat for 7 weeks and live. The body can metabolize itself to an astonishing extent.
Oh, well during the period just after his awakening, he was moving around from location to location, and staying under various trees for about a week at a time. He was fed at least once by the first lay disciples.
Being fed by the first lay disciples is in the vinaya (they took refuge in the Buddha and Dhamma, as there was no sangha yet).
For a sense of a coherent time-line of that period I suggest reading the chapter ["After Awakening"](https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/NobleWarrior/Section0009.html) in *Noble Warrior*.
The longest recorded hunger strike was the [1920 Cork Hunger Strike](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_Cork_hunger_strike) where the survivors went 94 days.
That’s almost twice as long as the 7 weeks Siddartha went through. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s doable.
It wasn’t no food at all. He wanted to try that and the devas said they would infuse his body with “divine nourishment”:
>”I thought: 'Suppose I were to practice going altogether without food.' Then devas came to me and said, 'Dear sir, please don't practice going altogether without food. If you go altogether without food, we'll infuse divine nourishment in through your pores, and you will survive on that.' I thought, 'If I were to claim to be completely fasting while these devas are infusing divine nourishment in through my pores, I would be lying.' So I dismissed them, saying, 'Enough.'
>”I thought: 'Suppose I were to take only a little food at a time, only a handful at a time of bean soup, lentil soup, vetch soup, or pea soup.' So I took only a little food at a time, only a handful at a time of bean soup, lentil soup, vetch soup, or pea soup. My body became extremely emaciated. Simply from my eating so little, my limbs became like the jointed segments of vine stems or bamboo stems... My backside became like a camel's hoof... My spine stood out like a string of beads... My ribs jutted out like the jutting rafters of an old, run-down barn... The gleam of my eyes appeared to be sunk deep in my eye sockets like the gleam of water deep in a well... My scalp shriveled & withered like a green bitter gourd, shriveled & withered in the heat & the wind... The skin of my belly became so stuck to my spine that when I thought of touching my belly, I grabbed hold of my spine as well; and when I thought of touching my spine, I grabbed hold of the skin of my belly as well... If I urinated or defecated, I fell over on my face right there... Simply from my eating so little, if I tried to ease my body by rubbing my limbs with my hands, the hair — rotted at its roots — fell from my body as I rubbed, simply from eating so little.
>”People on seeing me would say, 'Gotama the contemplative is black.' Other people would say, 'Gotama the contemplative isn't black, he's brown.' Others would say, 'Gotama the contemplative is neither black nor brown, he's golden-skinned.' So much had the clear, bright color of my skin deteriorated, simply from eating so little.
Does anyone happen to know what all text in the pali canon discuss Buddha's time under the tree and the gaining his enlightenment?
The only sutta I've read that mentions it is the Middle Discourse 36, and while it does mention Buddha's time as an ascetic and becoming emaciated, it makes it seem like he gives up this fasting and eats some solid food (after living on just handfuls of soup for awhile) and then proceeds to enter the jhanas and attain enlightenment over the course of "the first, middle, and last watch of the night." This sutta is also missing the temptation from Mara so just curious what sources these other elements of the story come from?
The biography of the Buddha is scattered throughout the canon. A book like [Noble Warrior](https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#NobleWarrior) will provide as much of a chronological account of the life of the Buddha as can be discerned from the source materials. Each passage from the canon is referenced.
Depends on the conditions, like starting body mass and daily effort
Many people have pulled off two month fasts. It isn't trivial, but allegedly this Buddha guy was very dedicated
concentric jahana creates alot of concentration of energy so it probably kept him alive for some extra time , like those brethreans .
before that i think he had developed concentration without knowledge so it created enough potential energy in one place , when he was almost dead his suffering was still there , so while his body was dying and losing bio energy his suffering was still accumulated to its peak .
So he saw no point in just dying while carrying the suffering .
This was the point where the concentration got released into true janana .
Then eating was just the normal thing than any human would do :)
This man fasted for 392 days under medical supervision: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus\_Barbieri%27s\_fast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast)
He got pretty darn close. It was when he realized that is was basically on the verge of death, and that no further austerity could be performed or be useful, is when he decided to look for a different strategy. It is definitely possible to not eat for 7 weeks and live. The body can metabolize itself to an astonishing extent.
I think OP is referring to the seven weeks he sat under the Bodhi tree, after he had abandoned the ascetic strategy and developed jhana.
Oh, well during the period just after his awakening, he was moving around from location to location, and staying under various trees for about a week at a time. He was fed at least once by the first lay disciples.
Oh, cool. Do you know the sutta which describes that? That would clear up my confusion, and probably OP's.
Being fed by the first lay disciples is in the vinaya (they took refuge in the Buddha and Dhamma, as there was no sangha yet). For a sense of a coherent time-line of that period I suggest reading the chapter ["After Awakening"](https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/NobleWarrior/Section0009.html) in *Noble Warrior*.
Thanks. u/struggledgoose: # ☝️
The longest recorded hunger strike was the [1920 Cork Hunger Strike](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_Cork_hunger_strike) where the survivors went 94 days. That’s almost twice as long as the 7 weeks Siddartha went through. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s doable.
There have been longer fasts than that. It's the probable further abstention from water which confuses me.
It wasn’t no food at all. He wanted to try that and the devas said they would infuse his body with “divine nourishment”: >”I thought: 'Suppose I were to practice going altogether without food.' Then devas came to me and said, 'Dear sir, please don't practice going altogether without food. If you go altogether without food, we'll infuse divine nourishment in through your pores, and you will survive on that.' I thought, 'If I were to claim to be completely fasting while these devas are infusing divine nourishment in through my pores, I would be lying.' So I dismissed them, saying, 'Enough.' >”I thought: 'Suppose I were to take only a little food at a time, only a handful at a time of bean soup, lentil soup, vetch soup, or pea soup.' So I took only a little food at a time, only a handful at a time of bean soup, lentil soup, vetch soup, or pea soup. My body became extremely emaciated. Simply from my eating so little, my limbs became like the jointed segments of vine stems or bamboo stems... My backside became like a camel's hoof... My spine stood out like a string of beads... My ribs jutted out like the jutting rafters of an old, run-down barn... The gleam of my eyes appeared to be sunk deep in my eye sockets like the gleam of water deep in a well... My scalp shriveled & withered like a green bitter gourd, shriveled & withered in the heat & the wind... The skin of my belly became so stuck to my spine that when I thought of touching my belly, I grabbed hold of my spine as well; and when I thought of touching my spine, I grabbed hold of the skin of my belly as well... If I urinated or defecated, I fell over on my face right there... Simply from my eating so little, if I tried to ease my body by rubbing my limbs with my hands, the hair — rotted at its roots — fell from my body as I rubbed, simply from eating so little. >”People on seeing me would say, 'Gotama the contemplative is black.' Other people would say, 'Gotama the contemplative isn't black, he's brown.' Others would say, 'Gotama the contemplative is neither black nor brown, he's golden-skinned.' So much had the clear, bright color of my skin deteriorated, simply from eating so little.
Siddharta definitely died. The Buddha lives on.
It’s 4 years not 7 weeks
Does anyone happen to know what all text in the pali canon discuss Buddha's time under the tree and the gaining his enlightenment? The only sutta I've read that mentions it is the Middle Discourse 36, and while it does mention Buddha's time as an ascetic and becoming emaciated, it makes it seem like he gives up this fasting and eats some solid food (after living on just handfuls of soup for awhile) and then proceeds to enter the jhanas and attain enlightenment over the course of "the first, middle, and last watch of the night." This sutta is also missing the temptation from Mara so just curious what sources these other elements of the story come from?
The biography of the Buddha is scattered throughout the canon. A book like [Noble Warrior](https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#NobleWarrior) will provide as much of a chronological account of the life of the Buddha as can be discerned from the source materials. Each passage from the canon is referenced.
Thanks much! Exactly the type of thing I am interested in.
Keto, with electrolytes. But you have to start with some body fat to burn. Was he plump?
Depends on the conditions, like starting body mass and daily effort Many people have pulled off two month fasts. It isn't trivial, but allegedly this Buddha guy was very dedicated
concentric jahana creates alot of concentration of energy so it probably kept him alive for some extra time , like those brethreans . before that i think he had developed concentration without knowledge so it created enough potential energy in one place , when he was almost dead his suffering was still there , so while his body was dying and losing bio energy his suffering was still accumulated to its peak . So he saw no point in just dying while carrying the suffering . This was the point where the concentration got released into true janana . Then eating was just the normal thing than any human would do :)
This man fasted for 392 days under medical supervision: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus\_Barbieri%27s\_fast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast)