[502] Prince, this thought occurred to me: 'Why don't I practice cutting off food (āhāra) altogether?' Then, Prince, those deities (devatā) approached me and said: 'Good sir, do not practice cutting off food altogether. If you practice cutting off food altogether, we shall infuse divine nutritive essence (ojā) into you through your pores, and you will sustain yourself on that.' Then, Prince, this thought occurred to me: 'If I were to claim to be fasting completely (ajaddhuka), while these deities infused divine nutritive essence into me through my pores and I sustained myself on that, that would be a falsehood on my part.' So, Prince, I refused those deities, saying: 'Enough.'
Then, Prince, this thought occurred to me: 'Why don't I take food little by little, a mere handful at a time — whether broth of mung beans, or broth of horse gram, or broth of chickpeas, or broth of peas?' So, Prince, I took food little by little, a mere handful at a time — whether broth of mung beans, or broth of horse gram, or broth of chickpeas, or broth of peas. While I was taking food little by little, a mere handful at a time — whether broth of mung beans, or broth of horse gram, or broth of chickpeas, or broth of peas — my body reached a state of extreme emaciation.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.