Fasting and Self-Discipline
Voluntary abstinence from food as spiritual practice appears in every tradition.
Matthew 6:16-18
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites... But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret.”
Isaiah 58:6
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free?”
Quran 2:183
“O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.”
Bhagavad Gita 17:5-6
“Those who practice severe austerities not enjoined by the scriptures, being given to hypocrisy and egoism... know them to be of demoniac resolve.”
Dhammapada 141
“Not nakedness, not matted hair, not dirt, not fasting... can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires.”