Monk-Hieing Around: The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei

Taking a turn toward the bizarre this week, we discuss the marathon monks of Mount Hiei where monks walk 24,000 miles to clarify their mind and spirit.

Twitter & Facebook: @macabrepedia
Instagram: @macabrepediapod
Email us at: @[e-mail]

Ref:
https://www.trailrunnermag.com/people/culture-people/the-marathon-monks-of-mount-hiei/

https://en.japantravel.com/blog/fudo-myo/68296

https://3100.srichinmoyraces.org/#third-section-tab-1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq3O1g6_9Os

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06oMxdt40A

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Marissa (00:00):
Macabrepedia makes light of dark subject matter

(00:02):
that may not be suitable for allaudiences listener discretion is
advised.

Matthew (00:11):
September 18 2022, Andre Mikado jogs through the
counting station that marks thestart and end of a loop around a
high school athletic area inJamaica, Queens, New York City.
The loop is just over a half ofa mile and he has completed his

(00:31):
2000 loop putting him over 1000miles. This is not the number of
times he has completed the loopin his lifetime, but the number
of times he has completed theloop in the last 15 days, and he
has not even a third of the wayto the end. You see Andre and

(00:53):
11. Other participants areentering the second week of a 52
day endurance event the SriChinmoy self transcendence 3100
mile race. The idea is that theefforts exceed physical and
mental limits and forces aparticipant to dig into the

(01:14):
infinite spiritual potentialresiding within us all. This is
the 26th year the event hastaken place. It draws ultra
runners and spiritualists fromaround the world. To complete
the race within the allottedtime of 52 days runners must
average about 60 miles per daybetween the hours of 6am and

(01:34):
12am. It is well known thatduring some runs, a participant
may experience a runner's high,a feeling of euphoria that
causes heightened senses andself awareness. Endurance
athletes have also claimed thatbouts of physical exertion help
to clear their minds in a typeof moving meditation. There is

(01:57):
no better example of thiswalking meditation than the 10
Die monks of Mount he a Japan,for the Buddhist monks have he
A, this is not a race. This isnot a multi day endurance event.
This is 25,000 Miles done in1000 days worth of marathons to
complete it is to become aliving saint, and to fail is

(02:22):
death. Join us as we add anotherentry into this, our
Macabrepedia.

Marissa (02:35):
Hello, and welcome to Macabrepedia marriage of true
crime and the truly bizarre. Andtoday, it sounds like we are
discussing long distance runningsomething that you're very
familiar with.

Matthew (02:49):
Not quite to this extent. But yeah, we are doing
something that's a little lessMcCobb, though there are some
McCobb aspects to it. There'snot a lot of murders or anything
that are associated with thisparticular one. But and it does
involve, I guess, long distancerunning, it would be a way

Marissa (03:10):
to put it, which is a lot of pain for sure.

Matthew (03:14):
To a ridiculous degree when you're talking about what
what the what the the monks areputting themselves through.
Yeah. So what the people who aredoing right now, as of this
recording, the New York Cityrace is actually happening 3100
miles in 52 days, which, atthat, that that might end in

(03:37):
some enlightenment.

Marissa (03:38):
Yeah. You told me about that a little bit this week.
That's, that's incredible.

Matthew (03:42):
Yeah, so I mean, this, this, this, this, because of
this, what happened last week,where we were talking about 100
mile runs and stuff like that itkind of led into some kind of
led into some other runninglike, mindsets. And I had on my

(04:04):
Strava account, which is an appthat, you know, tracks, your
runs and your walks andeverything. I had seen that I
was a lower place in my stepgroup than I would have
expected. And it's just like,it's a worldwide challenge. And
I saw the steps that one of theparticipants had and I was like,

(04:28):
that's not fucking possible.
Like there's no the students,the students clearing 60 miles a
day. Are you kidding me? And Ilooked and it was he's one of
the participants that are doingthe transcendence run. Well, I

Marissa (04:39):
when you first mentioned this run, I was like
many people have to live inQueens because it's how long is
the race? It's 52 days. Did youdays but you said that most of
them are not?

Matthew (04:49):
No, it's, they're mostly all followers of the
spiritual teachings of ShriChimp, Chimp, chimp noi. This
would be a good point in in thepodcast, so let you know that
there's going to be a lot ofwords that I'm going to butcher.
That'd be that'd be somethingnew. Well, yeah, I'm pretty sure

(05:10):
I got MT he A, because he A is acharacter from the anime Yu Yu
Hakusho. And it's felt the sameway. So I'm pretty sure it's the
same thing. Nice. But anyway,yeah, they don't, they're not
from there's like a Chinesecouple, that alternate who gets
to do it, but they're all kindof like followers of this
spiritual leader who has he diedin 2007. But he's got some

(05:34):
interesting YouTube videos ofhis feats of strength, which are
really not very impressive,actually. The weight is
impressive, but the way he goesabout moving it is real. That's
a different story. Let's go tomount here. This mountain, which
is about the highest peak of heI think is like, just under 3000

(05:58):
feet. So it's not like it's notlike they're climbing Everest or
anything. But it is ruggedterrain out there. Mount. He
lives just northeast of the cityof Kyoto in central Japan. This
was one of the words I'm goingto mess up Kyoto, Kyoto, no, a
Gilja which is the name of thepriests or the monks rather, a

(06:23):
Gilja smoothly speeds over therugged mountain paths. He must
make his 18 mile loop every dayfor 100 days to become an
official member of the JapaneseBuddhist temple that here these
days are done consecutively. Thetemple is home to the Tendai
monks, a group of spiritualathletes before setting out this

(06:45):
day the Initiate would haveattended an hour long service in
the Buddha's Hall, he would havesat on the ground quietly
sipping a bowl of miso soup andeating a few rice balls. Other
than a possible quiet prayer, itwould be silent, he would be
very present and every movementvery deliberate. He then dresses

(07:06):
in his ritual garments. This isnot the latest sporting outfit
that you would see like a Nikecommercial or even on like road
marathons nowadays. This is thisis actually contemporary but
this is not. This is none ofthat moisture wicking. stuff. It
well it's Guess what I'm goingto get there. It is a cotton

(07:31):
kimono under shirt, pants, handand leg coverings, a long outer
robe and a priests outervestments, all pure white. White
is the Japanese color of death.
His garment is reminiscent ofthe attire that he would be worn
that he would be wearing if hewas dressed for his funeral. He

(07:52):
will put on a pair of handmadestraw sandals over his bare
feet. This is done within thehouse. This is one of the few
times in Japanese culture thatshoes are put on inside of a
house. The one of the only othertimes that this would happen is
when a body is being preparedfor burial. These special read
sandals may last only a singleday perhaps to in bad weather.

(08:17):
Rain will destroy the sandalswithin hours. He would carry up
a lantern, small paper lanternfor light during these pre Dawn
hours. And of course if this isbad weather that's going to get
extinguish.

Marissa (08:35):
Yeah, I can imagine. I had some like wicker shoes one
time, which were the worst ideaever that I wore them in rain
one time and they got really bigand they just start to fall
apart. So I can just imagine.

Matthew (08:46):
Yeah, and this is not running trails with that. And,
of course also in bad weatherthe routes he's supposed to take
only become more treacherous.
This is an 18 mile loop thathe's supposed to be doing. He
also will have wrapped aroundhis waist, a white cord of
death. And a sheath knife tuckedwithin Tendai Buddhist carry on

(09:06):
a tradition that dictates thatthe Gilja does not complete his
journey, including theaccompanying tasks that he's
actually out there to do. Thisisn't just running 80 miles. He
has to also do specific tasks atholy sites. If he fails to do
any of this. He must stop andend his life either by hanging

(09:31):
himself with that cord, ordisemboweling himself with that
knife.

Marissa (09:38):
Wow, no, just keep going.

Matthew (09:40):
He also has this you speeding me

Marissa (09:42):
along again? No, not at all that just wow, that's rough.

Matthew (09:46):
He was very serious.
His duty, at least, at leastthematically is incredibly
important. He also carriesaround a small bag that holds
his secret holy book and alsopray or beads. This will guide
him along his journey and itwill help him remember the 250
prayer stops that he has to makealong this 18 mile trip around.

(10:07):
Now here are some of those stopswill honor monks who have passed
who did not make it and died ofeither suicide falling animal
attacks or some otherunfortunate event. During these
tracks he will be acting inorder with Fudo Myo. So let's
jump in today's special segmentof better no a Japanese deity

(10:31):
Fudo. Myo is one of the five miodeities. These five act as
protectors versus demons. Fourof the MIO are associated with
the cardinal directions Fudo Myois a fierce looking deity that
scowls and bears his largefangs. He is generally depicted

(10:51):
as having dark blue skin,sometimes red, and he sits atop
a stone surrounded by a blaze offlames. He wields his sword, how
can the sword that cleavesthrough ignorance, in his other
hand is Ken Saku? A rope with aweight and a ring on the end of
it was the formula uses like atrapping device for like animals

(11:15):
that can soku is now used aslike us to symbolize the
salvation of mankind. Fudo Myois known to hold many secret
incantations to keep evilspirits at bay. Fudo Myo is also
considered a fire deity, sittingamongst his flames. Voodoo mio
symbolizes fortitude. Voodoo miois an offender and an assistant

(11:39):
in achieving one's goals. Hisstatues are often placed near
waterfalls or deep withinmountain caves. Fudo is
outwardly fierce andintimidating, but inwardly
contemplative and serene. Manyaspects of the Tendai monks
undergoing the what will beeventually 1000 Day chi hug do,
which is the name of the run.

(12:06):
They have very similar parallelsto Fudo. Myo, the rope, the
knife, the fire ceremony thatwill come later. The fortitude,
the prayers of protection, thisis all very Fudo. Myo. Right, so
they're running around, andthey're doing these prayers, out
of respect and also incantationsto protect against the spirit
world. Gotcha. Then they havethe rope in the knife, as well.

(12:31):
Mount here has five main peaks,the highest is oh, by doc a.
Sure I said that. Absolutelyhorrible. And it is 276 Nope,
let's try that. Again. It is2769 feet high. That's not crazy

(12:52):
high. That's but it's, again,it's very rugged terrain all
throughout there. It's got like,rain and snow. And this isn't
like well traveled Park paths.
Very often. The mountain islocated in kind of a temperate
western Japan. But with the thealtitude that's there, and the

(13:14):
tall trees and then the coldwinds that come off the ocean or
from Siberia sounds prettyinhospitable. It can it can
during the winter months, itgets pretty pretty frigid up
there and it becomes a kind oflike a series of frozen peaks.
You know, it's known coldness,but not not like the most

(13:36):
inhospitable place in the entireworld. But temperate has all of
the all of the four seasons. Butlet's head back to our initiate
Gilja on his track, thus far, hewill be only in his first 100
days. Each night, he will get upat midnight, attend the service

(13:58):
that starts the Kayo Gu, whichis the run Chi Chi hoga to
probably close, I don't know,whatever, get over it. It's
probably gonna be sad 14different times, 14 different
ways throughout this wholething. But he gets ready for
that. The run around the mounthere, completing the route
between 730 and 9:30am. He willthen attend an hour long service

(14:23):
followed by bathing and a middaymeal. After lunch, he will rest
then attend to his his templechores. The last meal is taken
around 6pm He will then get tosleep sometime around 9pm And
then he will do this repeatrepeat repeating it every day.
bed at nine up at midnight. Runtill 7am continuous sounds

(14:46):
amazing. The only variation inthe 100 day ordeal will be a
special 33 mile run throughKyoto. The actual city This will
also take one night, sleep fromhim as well, because all of his
other stuff is supposed to bedone. So he just doesn't
overnight run throughout. Quickclarification, when I say the

(15:08):
word run, he's not like, he'snot trying to do this as quickly
as possible. It's actually kindof frowned upon to be to go
through it quickly. Yeah. Youhave this take a certain amount
of time to do each of theprayers and do all this stuff.
So it's kind of frowned upon togo too fast. And it's also

(15:30):
considered kind of lazy if youdo it too slow. Just right,
Goldilocks, just write so youhave to move but not too
quickly, throughout. So duringthis 50k route through Kyoto,
the 33 ish miles, he can sitdown under a giant sacred cedar
tree for two minutes during thistwo minute set, as he will then

(15:53):
give a prayer to the imperialfamily.

Marissa (16:00):
Well, it can't sit much longer he'll lockup. Man,

Matthew (16:03):
beware of the chair, beware the cedar tree. The Gilja
initiate will have a master whokind of assists on the first
runner to to kind of show himthe path and make sure he's
doing everything right. Since1886, there have only been 46
months to complete the Kaihoview. Wow, really the 1000 days?

(16:25):
No, not at all. Some have goneon to do it more than once,
twice, or even three timesimpressive. Some have died on
their second undertaking. Somehave died on their third
undertaking, one of the livingsaints who has completed the
trek twice, or the whole keyOgio. Twice. His name's Sakai.

(16:46):
And he said that when he was ayoung student, he failed all of
his classes had to take testsmultiple times, he just never
seem to learn the lesson on thefirst go. So he believed that
that would probably hold truefor this as well. So after
completing it, he went in to doit a second time years later,

(17:06):
because he figured all of histests in life has he's always
had to take it twice. And he didthe second trip in his late 50s.
So when I say trip, I mean thefull 1000 days of this the the

(17:26):
the initiate or the Gilja he'sgoing to be on his own in the
forest other than like the oneor two times that the master
takes him through the little 18mile course, he's gonna suffer
cut sprains, bruises, puncturesto his feet, cuts around his
ankles, he will run fevers, hewill have all kinds of hip knee
back ankle pains, not to mentionall the toenails that come off.

(17:50):
Well, normally, toenails comeoff because they're jamming into
your shoe. Well, your sandals oryour sandals, he's gonna blister
like a motherfucker in betweenhis toes and stuff. But many of
the monks who do this end upwith severe diarrhea,
hemorrhoids, they even duringthe times of the month that they
have to do it. They can sufferdehydration, or frostbite. And

(18:14):
of course, they're going to bedoing this pretty hungry as
well, because they're notbringing some gels and cookies
on their own there. In the caseof sockeye, the one who had done
it twice, he was attacked by awild boar, while he was on one
of his trips, and he was injuredvery badly. He I think he

(18:35):
completed that particularcircuit like that one little
loop. And then later on laterloops, where the bore had gouged
him became infected and had likean abscess. And that formed and
he thought he wasn't going to beable to continue. He was so sure
that he was not going to be ableto continue that he had actually

(18:56):
taken his knife, placed it tohis belly and was about to
disavow himself by SLIS slicingopen his abdomen and pulling his
entrails out. He readiedhimself. Then he kind of paused,
looked at the knife, and thendecided instead to cut out the
infection and burst the abscess,which gave him enough relief

(19:20):
that he was able to continue andcomplete the second second.
Yeah, so he, he seems like apretty tough dude. Depending on
what sources you find for Sakai.
His his life story is real roughor just mildly terrible. Like
his, his wife committed suicide.

(19:43):
He she was his first cousin. Hewas somewhat associated to
depending on again on yoursources. Now it seems to be kind
of disputed a bit as to whetheror not this part's true, but
that he was like part of likethe one of the major In World
War Two, or I guess, one of themain, like the 729th Division of

(20:10):
the Japanese war efforts thathad been making like biological
warfare, chemicals to useagainst the Chinese and stuff,
so he did some bad stuff. Thatpart. Some people say that the
documentary that says that isnot true. Anyways, the guy is
tough enough to cut outinfection and do 2000 marathons,

(20:32):
we'll call them alright. Sothe stories that are being told
by the masters such as like the,the Boer attack, and other you
know, those who have witnessedthis stuff, those are not the
only reminders that The initiateis going to have during to
remind them of the perils thatthis this undertaking has. There
are also grave markers andpoints along the the the trails

(20:56):
that are there to Mark, whereothers have died over the last
1000 years of past attempts.
They also serve to be a bit of agrim reminder, as he goes
through just how serious it is.
Obviously, if you're familiarwith an 18 mile distance, and

(21:18):
hiking or running 18 miles, eventhrough mountains, it's not
insane, right? To do it everyday to do 80 miles, obviously
walking around 80 miles ofmountains, not super hard. Doing
it on 1400 calories, consistingof just miso soup and rice
balls, makes it a bit tougher,wearing layers of cotton, and

(21:40):
woven read sandals, even if itis white and doesn't retain heat
still known from the sun, it'sstill cotton retains your body
sweat gets super damn heavy. Iknow this in the sandals, it's
going to cause some significantwear and tear on the body. But
it said that by about the 30thday, the discomfort will lessen

(22:01):
as his body suddenly adapts tothis pain and strain. This East
anything? Well, yeah, of coursethose who are really, I mean,
this is this is also a story ofjust human resilience, you know,
but this is not a phenomenonthat you have to be a monk in
order to have many extremedistance ultra runners have

(22:26):
experienced a similar phenomenonwhen they're when they're doing
like a speed thru hike of likethe Appalachian Trail,
Continental Divide or runningacross whatever country or
continent they're doing. A lotof them say that around day 30
It just your body just kind ofsays okay, so it's like you may

(22:48):
be crippled on day 28. And thenby day 30, you're running like
it's day one. These highs andlows do kind of continue
throughout the endeavor. But itdoes show kind of the
adaptability of the mind and thebody and your body stops you or
like tries to stop you for awhile being like we're breaking
down, we can't do this. This isunsustainable. And then all of a

(23:10):
sudden, it just goes alright,this is our new normal. This is
our baseline. So you know, it'spretty cool.

Marissa (23:19):
That's cool. Never had I've never gotten that hard that
long. But

Matthew (23:23):
yeah, maybe this isn't something that generally I mean,
you have ups and downs in anylike really long race like
you're gonna have your highs andlows from you know, pretty much
any any any race a marathon50k 50 mile or 100 mile or multi
day, whatever, you're gonna haveyour ups and downs. But like
Scott Jurek, who is a well knownUltra runner, when he was doing

(23:44):
the Appalachian Trail this hewas like crippled on, early in,
in his in his runs where he justcouldn't, he was struggling to
take one more step. And then allof a sudden, the next day, he
was just fine for like, anotherweek or so like he as if he had
just started. So it's prettycool, though. You know, the body
just kind of decides like,Alright, so this is us now. By

(24:08):
the 17th day, he's going to bemoving with a very smooth gait.
He's going to be holding anappropriate posture where his
head and shoulders are erect,his back is straight, his nose
and navel are aligned and hekind of like glides across the
path like he wears like thislong. Like, read hat as well.
It's supposed to look like alotus petal that's folding in

(24:32):
the water. And as he kind ofmoves through the path, he has
like no head movement, like hejust just kind of glides
through. He will continuallychant mantras of food Fudo Myo
as he stops at holy sites thisis normally like, like a few
quick few quick words. And thenhe'll like take the the prayer

(24:54):
beads that he has always keepsin his hand and it goes and he
just kind of rubs them back andforth does a few claps and then
He kind of moves on. It's notlike you sit in there for a long
time doing this. It's just likea quick little five, six second
kind of a thing. His spiritualgoal is to become completely
absorbed in the mountain and itssurroundings, one of the monks,
and one of the sources that Ifound, he says that it's to it.

(25:17):
The idea is to live that day asthough it's your only day to
think that tomorrow belongs toanother world, that will never
be. The goal is not to getthrough this day, it is to live
this day as if it is your entirelife, which was also a
documentary about 100 miles,runs. That's called Life in a
Day because of those ups anddowns and challenges and highs

(25:38):
and lows. But it's really coolto just be like very locked into
your moment, right? Like today,it's not I have to get through
this. And it'll be over. At thispoint in time. It's this is my
entire existence, this, this isall this is my all, which is
cool. With the pains andstresses being put on Gilja, he,

(26:02):
he hopes to achieve a state ofenlightenment, ideally, through
this whole ordeal, the purespiritual joy, of kind of
feeling present in the momentand oneness with the universe as
a whole. And they kind oftranscend the pain as he gets
like closer to that barrierbetween life and death. Now,

(26:23):
again, 80 Miles may seem like alot to some of our listeners.
But realistically, it's onlylike 36,000 steps on your
average step tracker. It'scertainly taxing and incredibly
time consuming. But it's doable36,000 steps in a day, 80 miles,
it's it's it's very, verydoable. But this is only the

(26:45):
first 100 days of 1000 days ofthese marathons. Now I say
marathon marathon is 26 miles,I've said everything's thus far
18 miles, it averages out to1000 marathons. This, this test
is essentially just the warm up.

Marissa (27:06):
Okay, I was wondering,

Matthew (27:09):
the, he's going to complete the process. Over a
course of seven years. Now, thedistance becomes greater and
progressively more difficult ifyou're doing the math 1000 Year
1000 divided by 365 days isclose to like two and a half
years. If he did themconsecutively. He doesn't have

(27:30):
all of them are not consecutive.
Back to back to back. So 100days is consecutive. But after
that, exactly. So the actualconsecutive days breakdown is
something along the lines of inyear one he's doing 18 to 20
miles a day for 100 days a yearto 25 to 25 to 28 ish for 100
days, mile three, same thing. 25ish for 100 days a year for 25

(27:54):
for 200 days a year, five moreof the same. But in year four,
he gets to wear socks. Oh, yeah,go. That makes sense. Yeah. And
then I think in year five, hegets a walking stick a year six,
he does 38 miles a day for 100days. Then you're seven he does

(28:16):
53 miles a day for the first 100days and then 25 miles a day for
the next 100 days. And then thatcomes out to 1000 1000 of them
1000 days and about 26,000miles, so circumnavigating the
world around the equator. It'snot known exactly. When the

(28:40):
trician actually started, I

Marissa (28:43):
was about to ask that because I was just wondering who
came up with this?

Matthew (28:47):
Well, there are references to like, pilgrimages
into the mountains taking place,from my Buddhist texts texts
back in like the eighth century,right. But this seems very
specific. Yeah. And but fromthat, from what I could gather,
it just kind of seems like yougo to this mountain, and you do
this stuff, this Buddhist stuff,and then you become more
Buddhist. And then that's it,you do that. And, but and this

(29:13):
is not just here, as far as themountains, this is mountains all
over Japan, throughout theBuddhist world, like going going
to a mountain and meditating andstuff is very popular, and a
couple of different cultures, asthey are done today, or at
least, let's say since 1886. Itkind of appears on that sense.

(29:34):
It currently, as much as as asit is as recognizable. So the
story that I'm telling you rightnow it kind of seems to take
place in like the 14th centuryis when it seems to be like
starting to take its form. It'snot it's clear that traditions
have kind of slowly changed andkind of evolve. Even if you

(29:54):
watch like the differentdocumentaries on this or news
footage even just shot from afew decades ago, you will see
some small changes that Inoticed. Such as like when the
Chioggia arrives at the base ofa steep staircase up to the
actual temple on here. He's metby a monk who's a pusher. And he

(30:16):
takes like a thick wooden dowel.
And he places it into the smallof the, of the monk's back and
just runs him forward. justshoving him up the stairs on
this, he doesn't break contact.
He's just constantly pushing,pushing, pushing. He's not like
striking, he's just pushing. Andthen later, that is one that I
saw from a few years ago, thatthat wooden dowel had now has

(30:38):
like a, like a, like a crescenton the front. That kind of like
hugs around. Comfortable. Yeah.
So it's like they do make someadjustments, apparently. But
still, it is kind of funny towatch those little dude, just
like put this, you know, they'revery monkish. It's very, it
looks very, as you would suspectand in your head, if you think
what what would two monksshoving each other up a mountain

(31:00):
look like? The it is that it isit would find itself perfect and
like a DBZ or something. Butanyway, so he's like, he pushes
him up the hill and all thatstuff. But there are some some
changes that obviously happen.
Once our initiate finishes hisfirst 100 days, he can then
petition the abbot at the templeto be allowed to undertake the

(31:22):
1000 day. Challenge the semi ChiChi hoga to in this, if his
petition is accepted, he mustfree himself from all of his
family ties, and observe a sevenyear retreat at Mount here. And
when I say like he, he is nolonger connected to anything

(31:45):
from his former life, kind oflike goes and like lives in a
little hut. And he can have likean assistant, because one of the
older documentaries that hadhim, there's this woman who had
been with this, this monk, likeus as a follower, for 12 years,
just tending to stuff and hesits pretty much completely

(32:06):
alone during at least most ofthis. And just like this little
hut, and he kind of just, he'skind of sponsored through
charity, like people who aresponsoring the monks. It's I
don't know the ins and outs ofit, they don't really seem to
like have what there is, thereis a book that has been written
on the subject matter. I did notread the full book, I just read

(32:26):
excerpts from it. And that wasnot something that I got. But it
seems like he's there, they kindof just live alone, except for
when they go in for like prayersand chores. And it just seems to
be a very solo life except foryour like one or two assistants
who dedicate themselves to tryto help you out.
So the Initiate will then committo the remaining 900. Other

(32:50):
marathons over the seven yearperiod. The first 300, again are
like 18 to 25 miles, they'redone 100 days in a row. And this
is generally around the end ofmarch into October, right? Over
those three years. Starting inthe fourth year, he will be able
to wear the socks. And thenhe'll be doing the 200

(33:13):
consecutive, and the fifth thefifth year he'll be doing the
200 consecutive marathons andhe'll have the walking stick at
this point. And he kind of tapsit rhythmically. Like I mean, if
you're ever use trekking poleslike he like a ticket ticket
ticket ticket ticket as you likerunning around, but his almost
seems like it's it doesn'talmost seem like he's using like
a walking stick. It almost seemslike he's using it like a chime,

(33:35):
as he kind of like kind of liketaps it on the ground as he
walks in. It's weird. He has avery, I mean, his stance is very
specific. And the way that hewalks through the stick is very,
very specific. At the completionof the 700th marathon, he will
go through a trial calledanother one I'm gonna mess up
the Daughtery DOI ri door Idon't know. This is like I've

(34:02):
seen seven and a half or ninedays without any food without
any water or being allowed tosleep. Wow, he has to sit in an
upright position chantingmantras all day and night.

Marissa (34:15):
How many days can you live without water?

Matthew (34:17):
It's not that many depends on the person. There's
people who've lived a long timelike in water yeah there you can
look it up there was a guy andlike I don't I don't know if you
like Israel, some likeclassically humid area or arid
environment. They thought he wasa they thought he was a dried

(34:38):
corpse when they found him. Andthen he moaned and then they
slowly had to bring them backlike giving him like a quarter
cup of water over time.

Marissa (34:48):
There's this is about three days for the average
basically does change by personbut yeah, still

Matthew (34:53):
Yeah, you and I were seven days is probably going to
probably look good But

Marissa (35:01):
water in your food too if you're doing something with
that

Matthew (35:03):
he's not eating anything. No, I heard you say
that. Yeah, no, this is nothingyou're not even allowed to
sleep. But the but part of that,but that's kind of what what
it's supposed to be. He'ssupposed to live through this
trial and get as close to thebrink of death as possible. This
is to show like an ultimateultimate appreciation for life.
And he will. Once he's done withthis, he becomes like the the

(35:28):
saintly master of the severepractice the ogee Omen GRE. But
so kind of to go back on to thatthough, like, well, prior to the
actual seven, nine days,whatever, that he's in there, he
tapers down his food, which keepin mind, he's been running
multiple marathons on like, 1400calories. Yeah. Which is not

(35:54):
what you would normallyassociate. But he's basically
just like with the body beingable to like snap into like, Oh,
this is our new normal. If youreduce your calories, and
continue to force your body tohave an output like this, your
body just says, okay, okay, weneed we are going to be able to
maximize the usage of this 1400calories. And then he kind of

(36:16):
tapers down his food and hiswater as he prepares for this.
So he's already kind of slowlyover the those few weeks
reducing down to a few 100calories a day. And you can just
do it once or once. Right. Soyeah, and that's the thing too,
like, because I've done extendedfasts, not not to this level,
and they were water fast. ButI've gotten three days without

(36:36):
even thinking about eating onceI kind of got rolling in it.
It's because your body just getsused to like, Oh, we don't eat
anymore. And you just your bodyjust gets used to it. But on
those days, where if you if youeat a ton, you're gonna get
hungry the next day for sure.
Because your body's get usedgets used to doing so anyway. So
this is all all of this trainshis body to be able to survive

(36:56):
this but do so in a very severeway. So as he kind of tapers
down his food, and his water,his meals become just like very
simple noodles, a couple ofpotatoes, just just a few
things. And then until the timeof the fast this is not actually
like the hardest part of it. Thenot eating, chanting and having

(37:19):
no water. Pretty tough. The theidea of staying awake for that
whole time is insane. Like theagony of forcing yourself to
stay awake is probably thegreatest challenge of that.

Marissa (37:36):
I mean, even if you're just tired trying to drive
somewhere and you're trying tokeep awake. It's a horrible,
it's a terrible experience.
Usually just after like one dayMiss sleep or something. Yeah.

Matthew (37:45):
So there's also at all times there's there's monks that
stay in there and they're inthere for like 24 hour shifts,
and then they basically makesure that he doesn't he doesn't
sleep at all. He's allowed towash his mouth out with water,
but not to actually drink any ofit. So yes, I guess, swish and
spit. By the fifth day he willbecome so dehydrated that his

(38:10):
mouth will just constantly tasteof blood and he won't he will
stop deprecating prior to thishe continues to urinate very
small dribbles throughout. Andhe's only allowed to stand up
there during once per day at 2amor once per night I guess at 2am

(38:33):
where the monk and hisattendants will then walk to a
holy well to draw water to offerto test Fudo Myo one of the
principal attributes of food inmy oh is that you must let
nothing deter you from yourappointed task. So that's you
know, part of it is being closeto death and still getting your
shit done. On the first nightthis walk will only take like 15

(38:56):
minutes gets up to am walks overthere. Like when I say get up I
don't he don't wake up he likestands up, goes down there gets
draws the water does whatever.
By the last night, it'll takehim more than an hour to slowly
shuffled down there and he'll beaided by this fellow monks who
they don't like carry him but itlooks like they allow him to

(39:18):
like rest His hands on like oneof those like shoving pusher
sticks in between them. So buthe's not like leaning on it.
It's basically so that he canlike walk in a trance kind of to
the thing. During this time. Hewill. He will lose more than a
quarter of his body weightduring this also, these aren't

(39:40):
big dudes. This isn't like a 300pound guy dropping away. This is
like 150 pound guy dropping downto like, you know, looking like
Christian Bale and themachinists. Right.

Marissa (39:57):
I mean, he has to have absolutely no energy at all Oh,
yeah, that's That's why peopleare helping him

Matthew (40:04):
they have a this is another one of the things that
they kind of changed over theyears this this is no longer
done during summer months,because of the increased
dehydration and stuff Yeah. Andthen it also I mean with the,
with the increased severity ofthe dehydration, there would be
prolonged damage to theirinternal organs like your just
total kidney failure and allthat stuff and monks have

(40:27):
actually died during thisparticular section of the of the
endeavor. And they It is saidthat they become so sensitive to
their own biology, that theybegin to be able to feel their
skin their pores pullingmoisture from the air, and that
they can hear ashes fall fromincense sticks and smelled meals

(40:51):
being prepared miles away. Hewill feel transparent, and
experience existence within aheightened state of clarity
seems pretty cool. Now, fastingfor enlightenment is not unique
just to the these monks or evenjust Buddhists, like I mean the
idea of fasting to the point ofnear death to compete to to

(41:14):
obtain some level of divinity orinspiration. Christians do it.
Hindus do it Buddhists do itmany major religions and
spiritual groups. They're allabout fasting for the

Marissa (41:27):
correct church when I was a kid where we had we didn't
do it like this at all by anymeans. But we did faster in the
day for a week every for everyyear or something. Not the same
thing.

Matthew (41:36):
That's like some Ramadan stuff. Yeah, but yeah,
but that's yeah. A day.

Marissa (41:42):
It's not the same.
Yeah, it's

Matthew (41:43):
not it's not at all but but yeah, but still, it's still
some symbolizes that same thing.
Like I mean, depending on whatyour religion is, it symbolizes
the times when people didn'thave that. And so, again,
there's there's so manydifferent religions that utilize
fasting for spiritual I can'tI'm not generalizing that that's
exactly what it is. for it, butbut there's, there's something
to be said, when you bringyourself like to the brink and

(42:03):
also just to not, not give yourbody like the base necessities
that it craves, you know, thatjust shows like a mastery over
self as well. Also another oneof the one of the other cool
kind of semi fasting, I guessit's kind of fasting. I don't

(42:25):
know, I just thought about itwhen I was when I was thinking
about this kind of stuff. Andthis also plays into something
that happens a little bit later.
And one of their otherchallenges. There is there are
these Shingon monks there are2020 quote unquote, living

(42:46):
Shingon monks between the yearsof 1081 and 1903 that have
successfully mummifiedthemselves while alive into
something called the so cusineboots who, or becoming a Buddha
in this body. And this is wherethey have a very strict diet

(43:08):
consisting of like pine needles,tree bark, stuff that has a lot
of sap in it, nuts, seeds, andother forged bits of forest
material. And it basicallydehydrates the body and then
makes them so that they'rethey're they're super dry and
full of SAP you fat checking me?
No, not at all. But It rids thebody of fat, muscle and

(43:33):
moisture. And they while therethey take him basically just
enough calories to sustain theirlife while this process happens
and they begin to kind of likeharden while they're still
alive. And then they're buriedin a pine box to meditate
through the rest of their theirtime on the planet until they
reach enlightenment.

Marissa (43:57):
No, I was actually thinking didn't we touch on the
honeymoon? Yeah, the honey Mark.
Yeah. Were you gonna talk aboutthat?

Matthew (44:05):
Just I knew where you were gonna say with. But yeah,
so but the 10 the 10 day monks,they also kind of do a similar a
similar kind of dehydrationritual towards the towards the
end. So they come out of thedeori and they finish more than
700 marathons at this point. Andthe initiator is now the master

(44:28):
of the 700 days of moving inseven days of stillness. And
this readies him for the nextstep of enlightenment. The Sikh
kacian ki yo which place whichtakes place in the sixth year
and consists of 100 consecutivedays of the 37.5 mile walks and

(44:48):
this has required like 14 or 15hours per day. The seventh and
final year he will run two ofthose 100 days one of which is
the 52 miles and then it goesback down to it The the 18 Miles
he will do these walks, the 52mile ones are done through

(45:10):
Kyoto, I think most of them. Andthere's like, followers will
line the streets not like huge.
This is not drugs. This is not amajor religion of Japan or
anything like that. But theywill like like followers will
kneel. And he comes by he doeslike that little like cheek
prayer kind of clapping prayerand then touches them with the
beads as he kind of goesthrough. He'll have an

(45:31):
attendant, not necessarily oneof the monks but maybe like that
the person who helped them outin the early days, that will
come through and they will bringa little folding chair that they
set up whenever he's likewaiting for streetlights to
change. And he just like sitsthere waits for the
streetlights. So like the onlybreak he gets Yeah. And then he
also they get really good duringthis time of being able to like

(45:53):
snatch a few moments of sleepevery time they sit down. So the
monks, it said there's a monksaying that says that 10 minutes
of sleep for a monk is worthfive hours to an ordinary
person. And at this point, hewill mostly only be getting
about two hours of sleep per 24hours being that he does 14 or
15 hours of this track. And thenon top of that he will then be

(46:17):
doing the his normal rituals andchores and stuff at the temple.
And also my first 50 miler thatI ever did. I did in 14 hours.
Yeah. And that wasn't just acasual walk. I mean, I was
trying hard to do it. So I mean,like that's a that's a pretty

(46:42):
good clip. I mean, that wasn'tthe most impressive thing ever.
But I mean, like it's not likehe's not it's not a gentle
stroll, like he's moving with apurpose for sure. And he has to
frickin do little prayers oneverybody. So the amount of work
that a Master Monk is putting ineach day, he would normally lose
about a pound every other day,from the amount of calories he

(47:03):
should be burning. But throughkind of like that training and
adaptability that the human bodyhas, he won't lose any stamina
or weight during Wow, theseYeah, that sounds a lot. It also
explains why people plateau realhard. body gets super used to
stuff and it goes. Now we'regood right here, you're if you
know, super annoying. And byplateau, I mean like when you're

(47:27):
doing like a workout routine andweight loss or something along
those lines. And you just yourbody seems to just like maintain
a particular level of fitness orweight. And it just won't budge
from that. So what I mean byplateau and I am familiar and
the monks they everybody hitshim at some point. But yeah, but
the monks because of this, thethe way that they've been

(47:49):
training like this over and overand over again running or run
walking at about the same paceover the same in the same routes
and everything like that, andtheir day is very very
regimented. Their body likebecomes super accustomed to
being efficient at using thecalories that are given to them
in any any given any given day.

(48:10):
But that brings us towards thefinal 100 Day Marathon test
during the seventh year. Well,this comes as kind of an easy 18
mile circuit, as he would havedone in the first 100 days. When
he then takes the final steps tothe mount

(48:32):
the Temple Mount of here, hewill have travelled the distance
the equivalent of a trip aroundthe equator, he will be greeted
by followers to receiveblessings as he takes the final
steps. There's no fanfare Thisisn't like part of like a
festival or anything like that.
There's not like there's notlike a ticker tape parade or
anything like that. This is justthe way one of the days of the

(48:54):
many days that have been thesame for him and each day is an
entire lifetime and it continuesall the way to the last. He
gives kind of a short series ofblessings and prepares for what
may end up being the hardest ofthe trials. The fire ceremony

Marissa (49:15):
what okay, what's this?

Matthew (49:17):
Well, this the first of all the pronunciation I'm gonna
butcher Jumaane my di Goma hewill live this is kind of going
what we were just talking aboutthe the monks who utilize like
self modification. So this iskind of where this kind of comes
into play for the for the 10dies, he will live on a diet of

(49:38):
root vegetables boiled pineneedle tea, nuts and kind of
reduce his watered down. Thefast is supposed to dry them out
almost to the point of like themagnification like I had said
and this is done in order tokeep him from perspiring
excessively during the fireceremony. This is when he will

(49:58):
sit before A roaring blaze thatfollowers will line up. And they
will bring prayers that theyhave written on little strips of
wood. So you can buy theselittle pieces of wood, and you
take and then they just kind ofwrite like a, just a liner to
have like blessings that youthat you want the monk to say on

(50:21):
your behalf. And this can be anytype of prayer. This can be
health, prosperity, clarity,whatever you like, it doesn't
have to be like part of Buddhistteachings like you can, you can
have a prayer of materialpossessions or anything like
that. But the wood pile is thenbrought before the Master Monk
who begins chanting a prayeralong with the gathered patrons.

(50:44):
And as he does, so he takes eachof these these small strips of
wood, which they're think oflike a, like a ruler, they're
about the same dimensions aslike a normal ruler. And yeah,
when I say ruler, I mean, like ameasuring ruler. That's it. No,
yeah. I mean, I'm assuming thatrulers in Europe are different

(51:06):
size, right?

Marissa (51:06):
Well, they don't, they don't. They don't measure metric
system. So I don't know how, Idon't know.

Matthew (51:12):
So they he takes these prayer sticks. And he kind of
sets them up almost, at least tostart the way that the ceremony
is done. When you're not sittingin front of this blazing inferno
is kind of like as if you'rebuilding like a house out of
Lincoln Logs, where you laylike, you know, the the walls
out. And he chants 100,000mantras, to Fudo. Myo, this fire

(51:35):
ceremony is also done withoutany food, or water. It does
differ from the DRE as he isallowed to sleep while he sits
there. But he's sitting when Isay a blade, like he, he's
sitting next to like a furnace,where it is just like, four foot

(51:59):
high pillar of flame that he'sjust adding sticks, adding
sticks, adding sticks to, andit's, it's, it's intense. And
when he finishes that, that'swhen the whole ceremony is
completely done. And he will bedone with the entire marathon
monk process. I don't think hegets a new title. At that time.

(52:21):
I haven't. He's still justMaster Monk. But at that point,
he becomes like a living saintas far as like there can. As far
as the level of respect, there'slike, there's one guy who who's
done it. The guy who did ittwice. He spends most of his day
just signing books that peoplehave written about him.

Marissa (52:44):
Wow. That's yeah. I mean, I mean, yeah, it's very
admirable. So

Matthew (52:50):
yeah. And then at this point, like, hit, you know,
traditionally, that would meanthat his prayers are like, extra
weighty when he prays for youlike he's really bringing,
bringing the Fudo Myo force withhim as he's doing it, but John
Stephens, the author of themarathon, monks have come out
here. That book that didn't readfor this, and I'm gonna steal.

(53:13):
Gotcha. Yeah, there are quoteshere. He writes, the most
admirable thing about the heat aGilja is their warmth, open
heartedness and humanity. Facingdeath over and over the
marathon. Monks become alive toeach moment, full of gratitude,
joy and grace. They have much toteach us. Always aim for the

(53:36):
ultimate, never looked back, bemindful of others at all times.
And keep the mind forever set onthe way. This is the way the
marathon monks are symbols ofAnil This is not where he said,
This is me this is but back tomerely my own stuff. Now this
part's not just keep going. Thisis the way is the Mandalorian.

(53:59):
You don't point it out. Themarathon monks, they are symbols
of an yielding drive ofresilience, dedication, and
being just the most humblebadass, to their tradition of
the marathon monks that may befading, as those who are willing
to undertake the experience areless and less those who are

(54:19):
willing to help sponsor andassist the monks. As they
undergo the early stages. As aninitiate, they also become less
and less. There's a fear thatthe ancient traditions of Japan
are fading as modern Japan moveson. Religion and traditions
slowly fade in a modern secularworld, particularly traditions

(54:40):
that forced the participant tothe edge of death, and even
beyond for seven years. Whoknows if there'll be another
marathon monk to step up to thechallenge of the Cuyahoga. Maybe
it will be one of theparticipants jogging around
Jamaica, Queens right now, butthat'll do it for this week's
entry. Wanting to get a littlemore into the bizarre, I guess,

(55:03):
if you want to say that mean, Isay bizarre in the nicest way. I
mean, it's a religioustradition. I don't mean that
what I basically mean is, I'drather talk about something like
this, rather than people eatingeach other or exploding corpses.
I mean, that's got its own time.
But yeah, but I mean, I feltlike we were hitting on a lot of
just McCobb McCobb McCobbMcCobb. And I get it with it's
kind of in our name, it says itsays it right on the tin. But,

(55:25):
you know, it's also some bizarrestuff a little something, also
to just kind of remind us ofwhat we're capable of doing, and
that we're just, we're so muchmore than we tell ourselves that
we can be sure, actually, justtoday that they, because of the
release schedule being pushedslightly on this, this
particular episode. Elliott KipChateauguay, just broke the

(55:48):
world record for the marathon.
In Berlin, yay, show me thattoday on 20 and 2022, September
25, and he did it at a you know,a pace that decades ago would
have been thought humanlyimpossible. It'd been just over

(56:09):
two hours, two hours, one minuteand nine seconds is what he did
it. And that's just, you know,what the humans can, what humans
are capable of doing is heavilyinfluenced by how much doubt
they have and what theirexpectations are. Yeah,
absolutely. But it's, you know,if someone can do a thing,
others can do that same thing,and possibly even better. Well,

(56:31):
if they did, I can do it.
Exactly. And that's why whenrecords fall, they generally
fall fall, fall, fall, fall,like they tumble like two or
three times before another onestands for a few decades. So
don't allow your kind of likeinner lies to hold you back. Not
that I'm trying to get on likethis Macabrepedia brand, soapbox
or anything. But, you know, justdon't let yourself tell yourself

(56:55):
that you can't do something orthat it's not possible just
because no one's done it before.
That's how innovation works. Butanyway, that will do it for this
week's entry. As always, thankyou for listening. Huge, huge,
huge thank you to our PatreonPatrons for supporting the show.
And I think if we if we had 1000patrons, or the equivalent

(57:18):
amount of funding, I willundergo a key Hill Gieux ASCAP
trial down 1000 marathons and afew weeks of fasting. All you
got all the patrons have to dois make it possible for me to
quit my job and just run forseven years. I Yeah. Yeah. I

(57:39):
call that a love story. Thatwould be that'd be a beautiful
thing. Just just to be clear, weare nowhere near 1000 patrons
you know, that's not going topossibly happen anytime soon as
at least as as as of thisrecording, I guess we don't
really have to worry about it.
But so if we do get close tothat someone reached out remind
me that I've promised to run1000 marathons and I will do so

(58:00):
for whatever patrons can alsojust do, they can submit their
their physical requests fortorturous trials that I can
undergo. That's that'll bethat'd be the Patreon an
offshoot anyways, whatever. Youcan reach out to us. Oh, no,

(58:21):
wait, we have a McCobb minute.

Marissa (58:25):
We do we have McCobb minute. Sorry, this this
recording of this one is alittle bit split up this week.
So it's just a little Yeah,there

Matthew (58:33):
was like a mid recording break that turned into
a series of days of illnesses. Igot sick. And then. So yeah,
McCobb minute us.

Marissa (58:44):
Well, there's a couple of mini McCobb facts I guess
this week,

Matthew (58:47):
go for it, get get bringing the McCobb back into my
bizarre one after.

Marissa (58:53):
I mean, one of them's kind of fun. One of them is kind
of depressing. So you decide.

Matthew (58:58):
You can't turn it off after the one you don't like.

Marissa (59:01):
This is the one you won't like. So listen to the
end. Um, no, it just says, okay,so by the time the average
American child reaches the ageof 14, it's estimated that they
will have seen about 11,000murders on television. Oh,
that's crazy. That'sinteresting. Yeah. It's kind of

(59:22):
sad.

Matthew (59:22):
Obviously. This means in fictional.

Marissa (59:25):
Yeah, well, yeah. Also, I guess you just Forensic Files
via

Matthew (59:30):
the Americans when I watched those aren't in America,
we grow up and all we watch isjust snuff films from from birth
till 14.

Marissa (59:38):
No, but there are a lot. I'm sure it's everywhere,
but to crime shows everywhere.
Yeah.

Matthew (59:45):
At least in the English speaking world. I feel like true
crimes are big, very big. Andyeah, it's pretty

Marissa (59:49):
big. But our other little mini McCobb fact is a
little bit more fun than that,during the French Revolution,

Matthew (59:58):
which is just that's To say that's just said an era of
tons of language

Marissa (01:00:02):
fun, but people kind of really got into obviously seeing
all these executions and stufflike that. And at one point,
there was a group of olderladies who were there called the
knitters. And they would spendthe whole day knitting while
watching the blade come down.
But also some other ladies wouldactually wear little earrings
that were miniature working.

(01:00:26):
Guillotine Nice. Yeah, like theywere a hit with like adults and
kids.

Matthew (01:00:31):
Oh, yeah, it was yeah, that it wasn't I mean that's
that's that was a pastime. Yeah,

Marissa (01:00:36):
absolutely. Yeah, little mentor. Let's get
something that makes I'm proudto make them

Matthew (01:00:44):
I don't think I don't know if I have the well I like
making things in miniatureactual things I probably could.
Most myself I'm making printer.
Yeah, I guess I guess I guess wereally could make it if it
really put put our put ourefforts into it. But that'll do
it for this week's entry. Asalways, you can reach us on

(01:01:04):
Twitter and Facebook atMacabrepedia

Marissa (01:01:07):
and on Instagram at Macabrepediapod. And you can
also email us [e-mail].

Matthew (01:01:17):
Thank you, and join us next week or hopefully next
week.

Marissa (01:01:22):
It'll be next week. As long as you don't get sick again
as we

Matthew (01:01:25):
add another entry into this our Macabrepedia