According to Buddhist tradition, Siddhartha Gautama practiced severe asceticism for six years before enlightenment.
After studying with meditation teachers, Siddhartha joined a group of ascetics in the region of Magadha. He pursued extreme fasting, breath control, and other forms of self-denial in the hope that weakening the body would free the mind from suffering.
Traditional biographies describe these six years as a period of intense experimentation. Siddhartha eventually realized that extreme physical deprivation was not producing awakening. He accepted nourishment, including the famous bowl of milk-rice offered by Sujātā, and abandoned the ascetic group.
This turning point led to the Middle Way, which avoids both luxurious indulgence and destructive self-mortification. The six-year period is sometimes confused with the number of years he spent teaching after enlightenment, but those are separate traditional figures. Buddhist accounts place his awakening soon after he left the ascetic life.