Siddhartha walked through the forest. In the forest, he found a group of ascetics. He watched them and thought this was the way to be enlightened. For six years he lived with the ascetics. For some time, he ate one grain of rice and drank from the river every day. One day a boat was on the river with a musician and his students on it. Siddhartha heard the musician say, "If the string is too tight, it will snap. If it is too loose, it will not play." After hearing that, Siddhartha knew that he wanted to find a middle way, something more effective than asceticism. He took a bowl of rice with milk from a village woman. He then had the strength, to meditate until Enlightenment.