The world's greatest athletes may well live on top of a sacred mountain in Japan. As part of their spiritual training, the monks run 84 km every day for over three months.
Tendai Buddhism Kaihōgyō 回峰行 featuring Daiajari Tanno Kakudo
Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei 1
Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei 2
Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei 3
Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei 4
Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei 5
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
resumen Los monjes japoneses "maratòn" tendai, recorren "descalzos" màs de 1000 maratones en 1000 dìas, durante 7 años con dieta vegetariana.
Sólo 46 hombres han completado el reto de 1.000 días desde 1885. Se tarda siete años en completarse. En Los primeros 3 años, 300 días, los monjes corren 40 kilómetros por día durante 100 días consecutivos. En el cuarto y quinto año corren 40 kilòmetros cada día durante 200 días consecutivos. En el sexto año corren 60 kilòmetros cada día durante 100 días consecutivos y en el séptimo año corren 84 kilómetros cada día durante 100 días consecutivos.
Estos recorridos empiezan de noche en senderos de montaña. Durante los meses de invierno, hay bajas temperaturas y nieve . Estos monjes corren con sandalias de paja, un atuendo totalmente blanco y un sombrero de paja. Son vegetarianos, con una dieta de verduras, tofu y sopa de miso sopa,y tienen que llevar libros con las direcciones y mantras para cantar,ademàs de alimentos para ofrecer en el camino, las velas para la iluminarse, y como un cuchillo envainado y una cuerda, conocido como "la cuerda de la muerte " para recordar al monje su deber de suicidarse, si no lo logra, por ahorcamiento o hara-kiri. .-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-..-.
Tendai Marathon Monks - The Run of A Lifetime
by James Davis - The London Observer
Some of the world's best athletes give a very good run for their money in the London Marathon, others pick up their appearance fee and potter round without threatening to win. The world's top distance runners are well rewarded - the best earn one million dollars a year - and they reckon to run only two or three marathons a year. What a comparison that is to a group of men who can claim - though they never do - to be the greatest, toughest, most committed athletes in the world. They run for no other reward than spiritual enlightenment, hoping to help themselves along the path of Buddha towards a personal awakening. They are the so-called 'marathon monks' of Mount Hiei, Japan. The monks, known as Kaihigyo, are spiritual athletes from the Tendai Sect of Buddhism, based at Mount Hiei, which overlooks the ancient capital city of Kyoto. The ultimate achievement is the completion of the 1,000-day challenge, which must surely be the most demanding physical and mental challenge in the world. Forget ultra-marathons and so-called iron-man events, this endurance challenge surpasses all others. Only 46 men have completed the 1,000-day challenge since 1885. It takes seven years to complete, as the monks must undergo other Buddhist training in meditation and calligraphy, and perform general duties within the temple. The first 300 days are basic training, during which the monks run 40km per day for 100 consecutive days. In the fourth and fifth years they run 40km each day for 200 consecutive days. That's more or less a full marathon every day for more than six months. The final two years of the 1000-day challenge are even more daunting. In the sixth year they run 60km each day for 100 consecutive days and in the seventh year they run 84km each day for 100 consecutive days. This is the equivalent of running two Olympic marathons back-to-back every day for 100 days. Author John Stevens, in his book, The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei describes the running style which dates back over a thousand years. 'Eyes focused about 100 feet ahead while moving in a steady rhythm, keeping the head level, the shoulders relaxed, the back straight, and the nose aligned with the navel.' What makes all these distances even more amazing is the manner and the conditions in which the monks run. These runs are usually begun at night and are over mountain paths that are uneven and poorly marked. During the winter months the low temperatures and snow are a great hindrance to the runners. These monks do not wear the latest in footwear and clothing, but run in straw sandals, an all-white outfit and a straw hat. They also run on a diet of vegetables, tofu and miso soup, which modern athletes and nutritionists would deem to be unsuitable for endurance events. Not only do they wear clothes and shoes unsuited to running, but they have to carry books with directions and mantras to chant, food to offer along the way, candles for illumination, as well as a sheathed knife and a rope, known as the 'cord of death'. These remind the monk of his duty to take his life if he fails, by hanging or self-disembowelment. The course is littered with unmarked graves, marking the spot where monks have taken their own lives. However, there have been no cases of monks' suicides since the nineteenth century. During theses long runs the monks must make stops at temples of worship that can number up to 260. This means that the 86km run can take up to 20 hours to complete leaving the monk with very little time for recovery or rest, but as an old saying goes: 'Ten minutes' sleep for a marathon monk is worth five hours of ordinary rest.' They also learn to rest sections of their body while running, such as their arms or shoulders. And then there is the doiri, where the monk faces seven days without food, water or sleep or rest. During this time the monk will spend his entire day reciting Buddhist chants and mantras - perhaps up to 100,000 each day. The only time the monk will leave the temple is at 2am to walk the 200m to a well and return with water to make an offering. He is not allowed to drink any himself and the 200m walk can take up to two hours in the final days of the fast. During his time spent meditating there are two monks who are in constant attention to ensure that he does not fall asleep. For several weeks before doiri, the monk will reduce his food intake so his body can cope with the fast. The first day is no problem, but there is some nausea on the second and third days. By the fourth and fifth days the hunger pangs have disappeared, but the monk has become so dehydrated that there is no saliva in his mouth and he will begin to taste blood. The purpose of doiri is to bring the monk face-to-face with death. During this fast, the monks develop extraordinary powers of sense. They talk of being able to hear the ashes of incense sticks fall to the ground and, perhaps unsurprisingly, of the ability to smell food being prepared miles away. Physiologists, who have examined the monks after conclusion of the rite, find many of the symptoms of a 'dead person'. Monks talk of experiencing a feeling of transparency where everything good, bad and neutral leaves their body and existence in itself is revealed in crystal clarity. Relatives of those who undergo this rite of passage talk of the difference that the seven days makes to those who undergo it. One remarked, 'I always dismissed Buddhism as superstitious nonsense until I saw my brother step out of Myo-o-do [the name of the temple] after doiri. He was really a living Buddha.' When the Japanese Emperor maintained his court in Kyoto, the monks were afforded a special thanksgiving service in the Imperial Palace after completing their 1,000-day term and the 'marathon monks' were the only people who were allowed to wear footwear in the presence of the Emperor. Even today thousands will turn out to watch a monk nearing completion of a 1,000-day term, as he runs the old course that now passes through Kyoto's shopping streets and the entertainment district, complete with its bars, restaurants and strip joints. Many turn up hoping to be blessed by these special monks whom they believe have powers to heal. Japan has the largest number of marathon runners per capita in the world. From the Arctic northern island of Hokkaido to the balmy tropical islands of Okinawa in the Pacific, each and every town will organise a number of long-distance runs and each school will have a strong running club. There is even a corporate-sponsored running league, whose teams are even allowed to have one foreigner in their team. Jeff Schiebler, a Canadian Olympic runner, is the only non-African foreigner who competes. He described what it is like to run in Japan. 'It is totally different from anything in North America. They have multimillion-dollar contracts, team chefs, great training facilities. That kind of thing makes Japan a power in long-distance running. They go mad for road races. Kids there grow up wanting to be the next marathon champ.' Japan's love of marathon running was epitomised with the incredible outpouring of emotion that followed Naoko Takahashi's victory in the women's Olympic marathon in Sydney last year. The race and the prize-giving attracted a massive 84 per cent TV rating as the fresh-faced girl from the mountains of Gifu became the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She became an overnight superstar and her face was splashed across newspapers, magazines and on talk shows. She even received The People's Honour (only the third woman ever to do so) from the then prime minister Yoshiro Mori, who said: 'You have given inspiration and encouragement to youngsters as well as a whole people by crossing the finish line with a refreshing smile.' Very few runners will cross the finish line in London with a 'refreshing smile' after 26 hard miles. Grimaces of exhaustion and relief will be a more common sight. However, after looking back at the 26 miles and a bit, there will be a feeling of great personal pride and achievement in their performance. Many will have achieved personal best times and others will have raised hundreds of pounds for charity. But will many of them be able to say they have gained something spiritually, as with the 'marathon monks' of Japan? http://www.howtobefit.com/tendai-marathon-monks.htm
.-.--.-.-.-.-
Going for the Gold, Buddhist Style
Jul 30 2012
In case you hadn’t noticed, the Olympics are in full swing. I thought this might be the perfect time to talk about some Buddhist monks that could put even the most accomplished and medaled Olympian to shame. They’re known as “The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei.”
That’s also the title of a wonderful book by John Stevens. It’s out of print now, I believe, but a new copy is available on Amazon for only $324.36! I paid $18.95 for my copy, purchased at a used book store some fifteen years ago.
Tendai Marathon Monk
The marathon here is something called kaihogyo (“practice of circling mountains”), a 1,000 day event stretched over the course of seven years, in which the participants run approximately 50 miles (80km)per day for 100 days. I’m pooped out just thinking about it.
This “challenge” has been in existence in one form or another since at least 830 CE, and it’s sponsored by the Tendai sect (the Japanese branch of the defunct T’ien-t’ai school founded by Chih-i), and held at Mount Hiei, the mountain monastery that was once the center of Buddhist learning in Japan, and still home to Tendai today.
Just how monkish these monks actually are, I’m not really sure. In Japan most “monks” are actually priests who can marry and raise families. According to Stevens, all candidates for the Tendai priesthood (both male and female) are required to participate in a sixty-day training period at Gyo-in, the Priest’s Training Hall, and they must do kaihogyo at least one day during this training period. Those who wish to go further are called gyoja (Skt. acarin) “a spiritual athlete who practices (gyo) with a mind set on the Path of Buddha.”
The kaihogyo is considered a form of walking meditation, and it corresponds with the four types of samadhi (meditation) set out by Chih-i in the Mo-ho Chih-kuan: constant sitting, constant walking, half-walking and half-sitting, and neither walking nor sitting.
In this practice the gyoja circumnavigate the “sacred space” of Mount Hiei, following a prescribed course that includes stops at various temple halls and shrines, graves, mountain peaks, trees, rocks, waterfalls, and ponds, where they meditate and recite mantras, particularly the mantra of Fudo Myo-o, a “deity” in esoteric Buddhism who is the central figure in the kaihogyo.
A more detailed description of the marathon is too involved for me to detail in this post. However, you can read more about it at Wikipedia’s article on kaihogyo here. The monks are truly awe-inspiring: they adhere to a vegetarian training diet, engage in a 9 day fast (doiri) of no food, water or sleep, and run on hand-made straw shoes. One of the highlights is the Taiko Mawashi (“Drum Turning’) festival where new gyoja leap from a huge rotating drum made of old katsura wood into a crowd of spectators (Maybe this inspired Springsteen? Nah). At one point the gyoja actually throw themselves off a waterfall, an act that symbolizes the ancient beginnings of the marathon, when the Grand Patriarch So-o (in 859) supposedly leaped into the falls of Katsuragawa to embrace Fudo Myo-o who had suddenly appeared before him.
I engage in a vigorous walking meditation somewhat similar to this myself. Several times a week I circumnavigate my block, and I stop at various locations to do ikitsuku, which means to “rest and catch one’s breath.” My doctor suggested I do 45 minutes of hard walking each day, and I said, “Doc, sometimes it is hard walking.”
I’m joking of course, but seriously, kaihogyo does sound rather extreme. John Stevens explains the rationale behind it:
Some may condemn this type of severe training as a violation of Sakyamuni’s Middle Way, but such death-defying exercises lie at the heart of Buddhist practice. There would be no doctrine of the Middle Way if Sakyamuni had not nearly fasted to death, subjecting himself to the most rigorous austerities to win enlightenment. Asceticism did not get him enlightenment, but it did lead to his transformation into a Buddha. This is why the emergence of a marathon monk from doiri is compare to Sakyamuni Buddha’s descent from the Himalayas following his Great Awakening.”
In Tendai Buddhism, enlightenment is not something attained in the distant future. An essential teaching of the school is “original enlightenment” (hongaku shiso) and the “gold” to be captured in the Olympiad or marathon of life is sokushin-jobutsu or “enlightenment with this very body.” In Tendai, the potential for awakening is inherently present within all people and that process is accessible within this present life.
Enryaku-ji, the famous Tendai center of learning At one time, Tendai was perhaps the most influential of all the Japanese schools. It was from the Tendai tradition that such major branches as Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren arose. Today, it is little known. The various Nichiren sects rely heavily on Tendai teachings, although they are often filtered through Nichiren’s very dogmatic perspective. Owing to my experience in that tradition, I feel a connection with the teachings of Chih-i’s T’ien-t’ai and with Japanese Tendai. While the kaihogyo is awesome and Tendai’s affinity with nature admirable, I can’t help but feel that if Tendai today spent more time engaged with the world at large, more people could benefit from exposure to their important teachings.
The mountain itself is a mandala. Practice self-reflection intently amid the undefiled stones, trees, streams, and vegetation, losing yourself in the great body of the Supreme Buddha.”
So-o, quoted in The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei
http://theendlessfurther.com/?p=10114
.-.-..--.-.-.-..-.-
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario