Asceticism before Buddhism was practiced for their future good life: to be born in some place where they have a lot of enjoyment or a more perfect world. That is a kind of extension of selfish practice. But our mortification is not based on selfish desire. The purpose of our practice is to control our desires so that our desires find their own place and act properly. We control our desire. So that every one of us extends our desire without any difficulty, we practice mortification.
Statue at Wat Umong, Chiang Mai, Thailand
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-04-08 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.