The Buddha (c 566-486 B.C.) was not satisfied with the ideas of his contemporary thinkers. Those who regard this earthly life as pleasant (optimists) are ignorant of the disappointment and despair which are to come. Those who regard this life as a life of suffering (pessimists) may be tolerated as long as they are simply feeling dissatisfied with this life, but when they begin to give up this life as hopeless and try to escape to a better life by practicing austerities (self-mortification), then they are to be abhorred. The Buddha taught that the extremes of both hedonism and asceticism are to be avoided and that the middle course should be followed as the ideal. This does not mean that one should simply avoid both extremes and take the middle course as the only remaining course of escape. Rather, one should transcend, not merely escape from, such extremes.