Terry Fox was a cancer-stricken Canadian who, to raise money and awareness for cancer research, decided to run across Canada. This in itself would be a tremendous accomplishment, but it was made even more astonishing by the fact that he planned to do this with only one leg (the other was amputated below the knee). He managed to run at this pace for 143 days, averaging 42 kilometers each day. That’s the lenght of a marathon. Tragically, before completing his amazing journey the cancer spread to his lungs and he was forced to stop. He died within months at the age of 22. He is the second most famous 20th century Canadian.
I had read about this amazing story before, and it immediately came to mind when I learned about the monks of the Hiei Monastery in Japan. The monks run the equivalent of two full marathons each day, on three to four hours of sleep, consuming around 1500 calories. They do this for 100 consecutive days before they’re eligible to apply for the 1000-day test of bodhisattvahood. The icing on the cake of this unimaginably intense exercise: the monk is duty-bound to commit suicide, by ritual disembowelment or hanging, if he is unable to complete his run. I thought this kind of intensely ascetic activity ran counter to the ‘middle way’ philosphy of Buddhism, but it’s incredible nonetheless.
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dear people,
WHY CAN’T YOU TELL ME ABOUT TERRY FOX WHAT HE DID BEFORE ALL HIS FAME!!!!!???????
LIKE PLAYING IN A BASKETBALL TEAM OR STUFF LIKE THAT????!!!!
Comment by andrea 09.13.06 @ 4:25 pm