Rogie Posted October 18, 2013 Posted October 18, 2013 “The message I wish to convey is, please, live each day as if it is your entire life, if you start something today, finish it today; tomorrow is another world. Life live positively.” Yusai Sakai, born September 5 1926, died September 21 2013 Ok, so not exactly original, but this Japanese man certainly knew how to push the boundaries. Yusai Sakai, who has died aged 87, was a Japanese monk and one of only a handful of men to complete the Sennichi Kaihogyo, a seven-year quest for enlightenment that ranks among the toughest known physical challenges; at the age of 61 he became only the third monk ever to complete it for a second time. Sakai was one of the so-called “marathon monks” who for 1,300 years have worshipped on Mount Hiei, just north of the ancient city of Kyoto. Unlike most Buddhists, who believe that enlightenment is a process which can be achieved only over several lifetimes through the process of reincarnation, Tendai Buddhists, like the monks of Mt Hiei, consider enlightenment possible in one lifetime. Not that the process is easy. Enlightenment, they believe, is attained through acts of ascetic devotion to Buddha. The most extreme of these is the Sennichi Kaihogyo, an epic trek through the mountains surrounding their temple, Enryaku. It involves walking increasing distances over 1,000 days, divided into 100-day chunks, during a period of seven years. The distances gradually increase so that, in the seventh and final year, devotees are walking 51 miles (two marathons) each day. If for any reason – from blister to boar attack – they should fail to complete a day, the traditional requirement is suicide. By the time that the 60-year-old Sakai was completing his second Sennichi Kaihogyo (literally, “the practice of circling the mountains”), the regime was taking its toll. He would rise at midnight for a simple meal of vegetables and miso soup, his only food for the day. Dressed in white burial robes (in acceptance of death), he set out on hand-woven straw sandals to visit some of the 270 places of worship scattered around the mountain landscape. By his own account, if it was a good day he would be back at Enryaku by 9pm. If not, there were no allowances, and he would be on the move again at midnight. Whatever torments he suffered his face remained impassive. That's not all. How about this? But the Sennichi Kaihogyo is not purely a feat of walking vast distances. In the test’s fifth year monks begin the Do-iri – a nine-day fast during which they are denied food, water and sleep. Scientists consider that anything beyond seven days in such conditions risks death. During the Do-iri the monks retreat deep into their temple, emerging only once a day (at 2am) to collect water from a sacred spring 200 yards away. On the first day this process takes minutes. By the ninth day, with the monks drastically enfeebled, it takes hours. The point is to bring the monk face to face with death. Those who have endured it claim that their senses are dramatically heightened, so that they “can hear the ashes fall from incense sticks”. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/religion-obituaries/10385695/Yusai-Sakai.html TotallyOz 1 Quote
