The Marathon Monk

High up on Mount Hiei, Northeast of Kyoto, lies the Mudo-ji temple; one of the few remaining Buddhist temples to have a resident running monk. For years, this was Dai-Ajari.

Dai-Ajari was, like all monks I’ve met, very happy with his lot. And this seemed rather against the odds; having joined the temple aged 15, he was asked at the age of 28 to be the temple’s running monk. And he doesn’t like running. To any one of us that’d be a blow to say the least. To a training monk it’s a challenge from their Master that they cannot refuse.

For the next six years, as well as his daily duties at the temple, Dai-Ajari had to run approximately 36 kilometres every day, performing 260 rituals along the way and wearing formal robes and rice grass shoes. At night. While the rest of the temple crew were sleeping, the running monk leaves at midnight to complete his task, equipped only with candles for light and a stick for protection. In all weathers. This ritual is performed for 100 consecutive days, a sort of probationary period, after which time Dai-Ajari was permitted to run with a knife.

In addition to the knife, he carried a piece of rope. In accordance with tradition, and this temple has had a running monk for over 1000 years, if Dai-Ajari wanted to quit he must then use the knife to cut the rope to hang himself. That’s one hell of a contract term that he didn’t ask for in the first place. Astonishingly, Dai-Ajari has performed this nightly circuit 1000 times. Not bad for someone who does not like to run.

The only way to end the running monk stint? To be replaced. Dai-Ajari was happy when this happened when he was aged 34. He then had to remain at the temple for another 12 years, after which time he was permitted to move into a local village. That was five years ago. Our encounter with him was the first of its kind, and he agreed to be our guide up the mountain and then to do an interview afterwards.

We met him in the morning at the bottom of the mountain. We were to walk with him to the top, an 8km route that he would have taken to get home after completing the rest of the run. In his heyday it would have taken him 40 minutes. As we peered up the mountain from the bottom, I was fairly sure that we weren’t about to break any records.

The weather was hot and humid, and to our relief Dai-Ajari had agreed to walk the route with us. This was predominantly done in silence, with the odd landmark being pointed out and relayed to us through an interpreter. I realised about five minutes in that I was not going to make it up this mountain unless I followed in Dai- Ajari’s footsteps and did it as he did: a walking meditation. My clothes were soaked through within minutes, such was the humidity. My breath was all over the place and I had to regulate it, breathing in and out of my nose. I kept my eyes down and literally put one foot in front of the other.

This sounds gruelling. It was. But it was also oddly soothing: to just be doing one thing, and to be doing it with all my being. All my senses directed towards one thing: walking to the top of this mountain. Thoughts came and went; Dai-Ajari was wearing Nike trainers and was not out of breath. Body sensations came and went; the perspiration dripping off my nose and the burn in my thighs with every steep step. Emotions came and went; most notably when we had to check and remove leeches from our ankles, although I was one of the fortunate ones without any of the critters enjoying my blood for lunch.

To reach the top was an enormous sense of achievement, incredibly rewarding and peaceful for me. 2 1/2 hours after we had set out, the view of lake Biwa opened out before us. The breeze began to cool us. And in that moment, I may not have achieved enlightenment (Dai-Ajari’s motivation for running) but I did feel pretty damn good.

Dai-Ajari on..

Footwear How did the grass shoes compare to Nike? Believe it or not, despite the millions of dollars that Nike put into R&D and marketing, Dai-Ajari prefers the grass shoes because they keep the feet much cooler. Back to the drawing board Nike?

Enlightenment The more you want it, the less likely it is to come. If you want to be awake, you won’t be. It’s important to do the practice and the rest will follow. Dai-Ajari describes achieving an awakening after 8 nights of running with no sleep in-between. Happily for us we can achieve this with plenty of sleep and from the comfort of our meditation cushions!

Injury To prevent injury, really feel your body. We are alive; we are here. If you get an injury, ask yourself why. Get rid of the worry surrounding it and concentrate on the practical work. Be highly aware of the injury; only a fool is injured in the same place twice. No room for big pharma on the mountain then.

Fuel What kind of nutritional boost did a marathon monk need? Simple, more rice. Dai-Ajari would consume 4 cups of rice a day, the only concession in the temple that indicated his nighttime activities were far from spent snoring.

Performance It took a year of walking practice to develop the tanden so that it was strong enough to get him down, around, and back up the mountain night after night. Considered the energetic centre of the body and a battery pack that can be recharged via intention and meditation, the tanden is considered of paramount importance in this discipline.

Rewards After being in the temple for 28 years, what was the first thing Dai-Ajari ate when he was permitted to have anything at all? Mackerel. It was necessary to line the stomach with noodles first. He’s also partial to the odd ice cream!

Life If you’re not sure whether to do something or not, do it. No regrets. Just do it. Sounding uncannily like the Nike gang there, Dai-Ajari.

With deepest gratitude to Dai-Ajari for his time and wisdom