Home›Ascetic Practices›Practice Status›Living tradition, practised todayBrowse ByLiving tradition, practised todayThis page groups practices by whether they are still carried out today. Wikipedia notes that "in French, for example, sections in newspapers giving the schedule of worship for Catholic services are headed Culte Catholique," ordinary evidence of a still-living practice. Browsing this way lets a visitor tell a living practice apart from one preserved only in historical description.FactsLearn MoreLiving tradition, practised todaySourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedDisciplines that withhold something the body wants - food, sleep, comfort, sexual activity, company - undertaken for a religious end. The ends differ: Jain sallekhana, Christian and Buddhist monastic renunciation and Islamic itikaf are not one impulse, and the older reading of asceticism as world-denial has been displaced by treatments that read it as the making of a self. 2StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedA standard analytic category in the study of religion 2DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedPractices 1Learn MoreThe Ascetic Practices This group gathers ascetic practices: disciplines of self-denial and renunciation undertaken for spiritual ends: fasting, celibacy, solitude, poverty, and the mortification of the body. Asceticism appears across the religious world as a means of purification, detachment and the pursuit of holiness. The browser will find ascetic practices from various traditions. The entries describe each practice's form and rationale, noting the tradition that prescribes it and the goal it serves.Living tradition, practised todayFilter Results10 entriesOrigin Period Start YearAll-600 (1)-400 (1)-300 (4)530 (1)622 (1)Solitary or CommunalAllPerformed alone (3)Performed alone or together (4)Performed by a gathered group (3)TraditionAllAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church (1)African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1)Aladura (1)Anabaptism (1)Anglican Communion (2)Anglicanism (2)Armenian Apostolic Church (2)Assyrian Church of the East (1)Baptist (1)Beta Israel (1)Breslov Hasidism (1)Calvinism (Reformed) (1)Chabad-Lubavitch (1)Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (1)Church of Cyprus (2)Church of England (2)Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) (1)Church of Greece (2)Church of Ireland (2)Church of Scotland (1)Church of Sweden (1)Church of the Nazarene (1)Coptic Orthodoxy (2)Digambara (2)Dutch Reformed Church (1)Eastern Orthodoxy (2)Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (2)Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (2)Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (2)Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (1)Free Methodist Church (1)Georgian Orthodox Church (2)Global Methodist Church (1)Greek Orthodox Church (2)Haredi Judaism (1)Hasidic Judaism (1)Karaite Judaism (1)Kimbanguist Church (1)Lutheranism (1)Maronite Church (2)Methodism (1)Modern Orthodox Judaism (1)National Baptist Convention of America (1)Nirmala (1)Old Believers (1)Oriental Orthodoxy (2)Orthodox Judaism (1)Presbyterianism (1)Progressive National Baptist Convention (1)Quanzhen (Complete Reality) (1)Roman Catholicism (3)Romanian Orthodox Church (2)Russian Orthodox Church (2)Saint Thomas Christians (1)Serbian Orthodox Church (2)Shakers (1)Svetambara (2)The Episcopal Church (2)The United Methodist Church (1)Theravada (2)Udasi (1)Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (1)Ukrainian Orthodox Church (2)Vajrayana (1)Wesleyan Church (1)Category of PracticeAllAscetic (2)Who Performs ItAllAll adherents of the tradition (7)Monastics: monks and nuns (3)Scholarly StandingAllA standard analytic category in the study of religion (10)CadenceAllAnnual (1)As the occasion requires (2)Continuous: a standing discipline, not an event (1)Daily (3)Monthly (1)Once, or at a turning point in a life (1)ObligationAllObligatory (4)Optional and voluntary (1)Recommended and meritorious, not required (4)Undertaken only with authorisation or transmission (1)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 10Alms round (pindapata)Living tradition, practised todayCelibacy / MonasticismLiving tradition, practised todayEkadashi observanceLiving tradition, practised todayFastingLiving tradition, practised todayGrand SilenceLiving tradition, practised todayItikafLiving tradition, practised todayKayotsargaLiving tradition, practised todayMaunaLiving tradition, practised todaySallekhana (ritual fast to death)Living tradition, practised todayUpvasLiving tradition, practised todaySources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Asceticismtier 1Vincent L. Wimbush and Richard Valantasis (eds.), Oxford University Press, 1995View the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.