The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei

The greatest athletes in the world today are not the

Olympic champions or the stars of professional sports, but

the "marathon monks" of Japan's sacred Mount Hiei. Over a

seven-year training period, these "running buddhas" figuratively

circle the globe on foot. During one incredible 100-day

stretch, they cover 52.5 miles daily-twice the length of an

Olympic marathon. And the prize they seek to capture is the

greatest thing a human being can achieve: enlightenment in

the here and now.

This book is about these amazing men, the magic mountain

on which they train, and the philosophy of Tendai

Buddhism, which inspires them in their quest for the supreme.

The reader will learn about the monks' death-defying fasts,

their vegetarian training diet, their handmade straw running

shoes, and feats of endurance such as their ceremonial

leap into a waterfall. Illustrated with superb photographs,

the book also contains the first full-length study in English

of Mount Hiei and Tendai Buddhism.

John Stevens lived in Japan for thirty-five years, where

he was a professor of Buddhist studies at Tohoku Fukushi

University in Sendai. Stevens is a widely respected translator,

an ordained Buddhist priest, a curator of several major exhibitions

of Zen art, and an aikido instructor. He has authored

more than thirty books and is one of the foremost Western

experts on aikido, holding a ranking of 7th dan Aikikai.

Stevens has also studied calligraphy for decades, authoring

the classic Sacred Calligraphy of the East. Other John Stevens

titles that are likely to be of interest include Extraordinary Zen

Masters and The Philosophy of Aikido.