“Greater the suffering, greater the peace”- David Goggins
I was laying in bed, unable to fall asleep. I had just returned home after running 74 Kilometers and completing my first ultra marathon in the process. My legs were shivering with cramps. The pain pierced through the depths of my body. It was the worst physical pain, that I have ever been in, in my entire life, but I was indifferent to it. I didn’t feel the need to take a pain killer. On top of that, my mother was about to undergo a major surgery, the day after. Normally I would have been eating myself up in anxiety, worrying about the outcome of the surgery. Yet here I was, neither bothered by the past nor consumed by the future. I was floating in vacuum, totally at peace with myself and the world.
Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei and their path to enlightenment
As the world is engulfed with awe of the amazing feats of the athletes at the Tokyo Olympics 2021, I came across an article about the marathon monks of Japan.
In Japan, Mount Hiei overlooks the ancient city of Kyoto, Japan. On these mountains, the monks of Tendai Buddhism undertake a gruelling set of ascetic practices, called Kaihōgyō, which leads to enlightenment. The practice involves running marathons for 1000 days around Mount Hiei, while having minimum food, all the while offering prayers at halls, shrines and other sacred places.
The break up of the distances to be covered by a Tendai Monk as a part of Kaihōgyō is as follows :
1st year: 100 consecutive days of 25 mile runs, beginning at 1:30 a.m., each day after an hour of prayer.
2nd year: 100 consecutive days of 25 mile runs.
3rd year: 100 consecutive days of 25 mile runs.
4th year: 100 consecutive days of 25 mile runs – performed twice for a total of 200 days.
5th year: 100 consecutive days of 25 mile runs – performed twice for a total of 200 days.
6th year: 100 consecutive days of 37.5 mile runs
7th year: 100 consecutive days of 52 mile runs and 100 consecutive days of 25 mile runs.
Since 1885, only 46 monks have made it through the challenge. It is believed that completing the 1,000-day challenge makes one a “Saintly Master of the
Highest Practice”, or “Living Buddha”. Kaihōgyō is one of the most demanding feats of human endurance. The basic tenet of Kaihōgyō is suffering. Kaihōgyō makes a monk suffer to the extreme. So that if he still persists, then he is sure to realize the ultimate, i.e: his own Buddha nature, enlightenment.
As human beings, we frown when we are confronted with adversities. We take the path of least resistance. We often go for the path that seems to be comfortable. However, a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. Your character is forged when you go through adversities and don’t give up on your goals. No wonder, the most bad-ass people are those that have gone through a lot of suffering because suffering is like fire. If you walk through suffering, it will be extremely uncomfortable but if you manage to walk through it, it will cleanse you and make you a better version of yourself. Thus embrace suffering, as it is our greatest friend on the path of self growth.
If you liked reading this article, you will also like reading: How to overcome suffering?
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