The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei Paperback – February 28, 2013

There’s a lot of way to find new books to read. In today’s world, AMAZON.com does a great job suggesting new titles for you based on your past searches. But, sometimes its fun to find books the old-fashioned way.This week’s book I obtained from the list of sources in last week’s book: Eat & Run by Scott Jurek.The Marathon Monks of Mt. Hiei is a documentation of a sect of Tendai Buddhist monks in the mountains outside Kyoto, Japan. Unique within their journey of personal enlightenment is the incorporation 100-days or 1,000-days of consecutive marathon distance (40-80km) pilgrimages through their mountain homes. The endurance, persistence, and consistency of these Marathon Monks is mind-blowing — clearly the wrong sentiment for a group undergoing a journey of enlightenment, but, nonetheless captures my raw enthusiasm for their feats.The Marathon Monks of Mt. Hiei IS NOT for everyone. It’s a detailed, almost scholarly study with a tangential association to running or ultrarunning. I recommend some quick internet research first on the Marathon Monks.If then still interested, this book is an EXCELLENT further study.See you at the Finish Line,-George

Just started book and was struck by a glaring error on page 5 that describes the amount of "copper" used in the casting of the Great Buddha, "an image so colossal that it required 100 million tons of copper." The statue is bronze, not copper and the total weight is 550 tons. Yes copper is a major component of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, and yes the structure came close to bankrupting the government but 100 million tones of copper?

The book is a surprisingly large format, looks like a foreign language textbook. The pictures are a bit low-quality, but that's what you'd expect from pics done in 1980s when these were taken. It really is a minor complaint, for the power of this book is in the content, the text, the words themselves. It is a thoughtful and well-crafted exploration of the phenomenon of marathon monks. The author knew his audience would be Western and largely ignorant of the subtelties of the cultural context in which the kaihogyo takes place. And so he guides us, the readers, through the complexities of the spiritual as well as the physical ways in which the rituals of Mt. Hiei shape the lives of the few extraordinary men engaged in them. A profoundly engaging read.

As an avid runner living in Japan, the legendary marathon monks of Hiei Mountain sparked my imagination. These men were said to run hundreds of kilometers a day, praying and starving themselves on the path to living Buddhahood and, if lucky, enlightenment. Could running really reap such spiritual rewards?Intriguing as that sounds, the real story isn't so interesting. Stevens presents the information in a purely academic way. Although the resulting book is extremely informative it does little to get the adrenaline pumping or even spark the audiences imagination. Although pictures are scattered throughout he book, the dark, black and white printing looks blotchy and leaves a lot to the reader's imagination. Add a long introduction on the foundations of Buddhism in Japan and we are left with a short treatise on the subject of marathon monks.But the books does what it set out to do - I learned about Buddhism, Mount Hiei and the running monks. Those interested in the subject should check it out. But those looking for a bit of excitement, intrigue and possibly motivation for their next marathon should look elsewhere.

This book is about the remarkable men who put themselves into the rigors of the most severe monastic life on the planet in order to reach the ideal human level and mentality. If you are looking for inspiration, this is it! Those individuals who are capable of going through the kind of training methods described in this book are one in a million, and they prove to the rest of us of what it means to liberate oneself from the chains of self-limiting thoughts and beliefs.

What a fascinating book! I run ultramarathons, but these monks aren't just running a marathon a day. It's running a marathon or more per day on very simple food and very little sleep. Really fascinating read.

If you are trying to set in a new habit and fail because it is "hard".Read this book.Understand how far the human mind can grow.Realize how weak you are and get to work.

Wondering why i didnt read this earlier

Deze verkoper houdt van boeken en verpakt ze goed, dus geen beschadigingen en ezelsoren!!

Good book...well written with great photos.

Wer Marathons "ohne Grund", bzw. nur aus Spaß läuft, der findet hier zumindest eine Idee, warum wir laufen.Laufen als Meditation in Bewegung...

I thought I would find some more inspiring themes in this book, or may be some more anecdot to leverage, but I found neither of those.I would recommend to skip it, despite my hero Scott Jurek recommending it.

...in good quality and big ( ca. A4 / US letter format ) ...in guter Qualität ( im A4 Format )