[23] Then Nigrodha the wanderer, having quieted those wanderers, said to the Blessed One: "Venerable sir, we profess the rejection of evil through austerity (tapojigucchā); we dwell cleaving to the rejection of evil through austerity. Of what sort, venerable sir, is the rejection of evil through austerity that is complete, and of what sort is it incomplete?"
"Here, Nigrodha, a practitioner of austerity (tapassī) goes naked, is of loose habits, licks his hands; he does not come when invited, does not stand still when invited; he does not consent to food brought to him, nor to food prepared specially for him, nor to an invitation. He does not receive from the mouth of a pot, does not receive from the mouth of a basket, nor across a threshold, nor across a mortar, nor across a pestle, nor across a stick, nor from two people eating together, nor from a pregnant woman, nor from a woman giving suck, nor from a woman gone among a company (parisantaragatā), nor where food has been collected by announcement, nor where a dog is standing by, nor where flies are swarming; he eats no fish, no meat; he drinks no liquor, no fermented drink, no sour husk-gruel. He is a one-house man taking one morsel, or a two-house man taking two morsels, or a seven-house man taking seven morsels. He keeps himself going on one small offering, or on two small offerings, or on seven small offerings. He takes food once a day, or once in two days, or once in seven days; thus he dwells devoted to the practice of taking food at stated intervals, even at intervals of half a month. He feeds on greens, or on millet, or on wild rice, or on hide-parings, or on the sāta plant, or on rice-bran, or on rice-scum, or on sesamum flour, or on grass, or on cow dung; he keeps himself going on forest roots and fruits, eating fallen fruit.
He wears coarse hemp cloth, and mixed hemp cloth, and shrouds taken from corpses, and rag-robes, and tirīṭa-bark garments, and antelope hides, and strips of antelope hide, and a garment of kusa grass, and a garment of bark, and a garment of wood-shavings, and a blanket of human hair, and a blanket of horse-hair, and owls' wings. He is a plucker-out of hair and beard, devoted to the practice of plucking out hair and beard; he is a continual stander, refusing seats; he is a squatter, devoted to the exertion of squatting; he is a bed-of-thorns man, making his bed upon thorns; he makes his bed on a plank; he makes his bed on the bare ground; he lies on one side only; he is a wearer of dust and dirt; he lives in the open air; he accepts whatever sleeping-place is spread for him; he is an eater of filth, devoted to the practice of eating filth; he is a non-drinker, devoted to the practice of not drinking; he dwells devoted to the practice of going down to the water three times a day, the evening being the third.
What do you think, Nigrodha? If this is so, is the rejection of evil through austerity complete, or incomplete?"
"Certainly, venerable sir, if this is so, the rejection of evil through austerity is complete, not incomplete."
"But even in a rejection of evil through austerity thus complete, Nigrodha, I say there are defilements (upakkilesa) of many kinds."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.