Fasting from a Buddhist point-of-view

To all....I felt that some of you might be interested.

"When a practitioner adopts a supervised fasting practice he or she eats dry bread for three days to prepare the stomach for no food. The standard fasting period is eighteen days and only a small amount of water is drunk daily. Most important is the ending of the fast, which requires small portions of thin porridge or gruel every few hours for three days, until the digestive system has come fully back to life. If this first fast is successful and beneficial to one's practice, then one can attempt a thirty-six day fast. Some fasters have extended the period gradually over years to include fasting for up to seventy-two days. This is an extreme practice that is only recommended to one who has taken all the required steps with the supervision of an experienced teacher."

Taken from.....
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma9/fasting.html


I was particularly interested in how they begin a Fast, and the amount of Water taken during the Fast.....WY