Asceticism
He practiced tranquillity to the highest level possible. At first he learned this from his meditation teachers but he could not reach the highest point, because the teachers had not reached the highest point. So he decided to practice asceticism with five ascetics. He even stopped eating till he became like a skeleton. Then he tried to stop breathing. This resulted in his fainting, when some thought he was dead. When, however, he woke up, he thought: “All these days I have been trying to learn from others and do what other people did. Now I will go my own way.”
He started to eat to strengthen his body and mind. He recalled how as a child he had entered the first ecstasy automatically by letting go of everything. He thought: “This is what I will do now. I will let go, give up everything.” This way he gave up all the five hindrances, lust, hate, lethargy, worry, and indecision. This resulted in the appearance of the five constituents of ecstasy