Throwing oneself to God

The monks were in constant motion, chanting scriptures, maintaining the temple grounds, and doing Gyo. The Master did not believe in being idle. He would explain that Gyo was the practice of “throwing oneself to God,” and would purify the spirit. Eventually it would bring Enlightenment which was the goal of all monks.

When foreigners came, they mostly did basic forms of Gyo, like walking around the temple grounds lighting candles, or sitting in the hall chanting for world peace. The more energetic ones might do the Hyaku Gyo, walking back and forth between two engraved marble posts 100 times, while chanting blessings, which took about 2 hours. Brad had wanted to do the most advanced Gyos, and Master was obliging.

In the general hall the night after Brad’s Mizu Gyo, while he was still fighting his skull-pounding headache, he was assigned to do Aruki Gyo. It started at the temple, descended six or seven miles down narrow roads in the coastal mountain, reach a small town on the seashore, and returned on an alternate route. The next morning before sunrise, a lady monk with a shaved head outfitted the Rosedales in black ceremonial robes and hats as was their custom for the ritual. They held walking sticks engraved with messages that would ward off evil spirits. This monk had been making the walk every other day for two years. They started out, the Rosedale’s keeping pace easily, water bottles and snacks secure in small backpacks.

Halfway down the mountain, they were enjoying the majestic view in the frigid air. Brad’s head was still pounding, but less with each mile. When they arrived at the  seaside town they stopped at a monument near the water’s edge, lit incense and chanted for 30 minutes. Then the monk spread out a blanket, and they sat and had a restful meal of breads, cheese and fruit. The walk back was almost all uphill, and took much longer. Brad’s headache was gone but his knees started to ache. Elly was having no problem, but fatigue was setting in, and no one spoke for two hours. At last the monk stopped for a break.  The two women spoke in Japanese, and began laughing. Brad wondered if it was about him. This was nothing, he thought.  

“Ask her if any of the monks have done this walk 3 days in a row,” he said to Elly. Japanese was spoken back and forth, and the monk began laughing.

“No at least not in the last two years,” she said.  “She wants to know if you want to try it.”

“Tell her I will do it, and set the Auruki Gyo record!” said Brad. They spoke in Japanese again, and both giggled. Yoko and Elly were becoming good friends.  They resumed the walk, and when they got back to the Temple it was early afternoon and Brad’s feet were red and starting to blister. Elly felt stiff, but shook it off.

Master okayed Brad’s request to set an Aruki Gyo record on the mountain. He made an announcement at dinner that Brad was the great westerner who was going to set a record doing Gyo at the Temple. The monks looked at each other in surprise, whispered in small groups, then grinned broadly. Elly translated that they were finding him entertaining, and they liked him!  The next day Brad took off with a male monk leading the way. They walked faster. On the way back he struggled to keep up, but he pushed through his aching knees and back, for a total time of just under 5 hours. His feet were beginning to blister, but he elevated them and they felt better.

Preparing for the 3rd day, he was ready to set the record, but Elly didn’t want to go, she had had enough. He couldn’t go with the lady monk,  because of  a story about a young female monk who was raped in the Temple a few years ago. Master had set strict rules, and they would need to be chaperoned. The male monks were all busy doing their assigned tasks.

“Elly, tell Master I can go by myself. I can find the way, Ill just stick to the main road and be back in less than 5 hours!”

“It’s not a good idea,” she said. “Give it a break, your feet need to rest. You look stiff just getting out of a chair.”

“Nah, its a piece of cake! I’m good, can you ask him?”

The Master was delighted. He made an announcement that the great doctor from the west was going to do Aruki Gyo by himself, and honor the Temple as the first foreigner to ever do so. The monks clapped and giggled, and Brad felt a warm glow inside.

The next morning he waited two hours after Yoko had left for her mountain walk. He confided to himself that he could even  pass her on the way. Wearing an extra pair of socks,  packing a very light lunch and no blanket, he took off at a slow jog as Elly waved goodbye. Down the hill he went.

After about an hour of jog-walking down the mountain, he was sweating, and had to strip his jacket off and stuff it into the back pack. Another hour later he was at the seaside monument where he finished the chanting, well ahead of schedule. I’can beat 4 hours, he thought, which spurred him to ignore the burning pain in his feet from the jog-walk down the mountain. He returned to the walk, marching with rapid steps, eating his lunch on the way to save time.  He couldn’t know that Yoko had finished her lunch just minutes before he had arrived, and was on her way back up the mountain. If he had taken the correct road back, he would have caught up with her. But he didn’t.  He made a wrong turn.

He walked for about 10 minutes, straight toward the mountain. There were fewer buildings along the way, then there were only people’s houses, and then fields. Then he could see the end of the road. Turning around, he went back until it looked familiar again, then he went another way towards the water. He could look back and see the monument. It had to be the right road. No, it swung around to the water’s edge and then into a small industrial area. He retraced steps again and took a 3rd route. Then he just stood there, about 100 yards from the monument, and counted how many ways he could go. There were five.  I’ll go back before the statue, and start over. He walked about 2oo yards past the monument, where he knew he was back on the path. Then he turned around, expecting to recognize the way that would set him on the correct return trip. It all looked familiar now, but no one of them stood out. I’ll stick to the water and find a main road up the mountain. He walked along the water’s edge for about 20 minutes, and soon was in a part of town that hung to the seaside, with no main road anywhere to be found. Agggh. The sinking feeling of being lost was followed by the humiliation he would endure when the monks found out later.

Then he got the great idea of just walking back the same way he had come. Its only one road! He set out marching, and tapping the stick on the ground with each step. The road began to rise into the foothill. It was only one road, he kept telling himself, but then it veered left, and headed around another part of the mountain. He kept walking, his feet felt swollen in his shoes. He was breathing hard, and thirsty. The water was gone and he had to urinate.  There was no cell phone allowed during Gyo, and no taxi’s to call anyway. He thought about flagging a car down but realized he wouldn’t be able to give directions. So he just kept walking.

It was almost sunset when Brad finally made it back to the temple, just as dinner was being served. Somebody had reported seeing a lone man walking back and forth on the roads, and a city official had been summoned. A car pulled over in front of him as he was walking near the edge of town. His pride was broken, and he accepted the ride. The driver knew where to take Brad because the name of the Temple was engraved on his walking stick.

He limped into the Temple grounds, found some water.  Elly was anxiously awaiting, they had received a call. “Oh no, poor thing, you got lost. Everyone thinks you made the mountain walk three days in a row, but you didn’t set a record. One of the monks holds the Aruki Gyo record.”

As they settled into chairs at the long table in the dining hall, a bald monk grinning ear to ear sauntered in with a pair of shoes. He walked over to where Brad was sitting, and showed him a pair of athletic shoes with deformed soles that were almost completely worn through.

“This is Toru,” Elly said, introducing him to Brad. “Master assigned his Aruki Gyo three years ago, to walk across Japan from north to south. It took him a month and he wore out three pairs of shoes. He holds the record for Aruki Gyo.” The monks all grinned at Brad, and were trying not to laugh.  He was humbled again. Then, everyone enjoyed a hearty meal.

There would be another Gyo where he would finally set a real record, but it wouldn’t last. A monk would beat it the very next day, as if to teach the American he had no hope of competing against dedicated Buddhist temple monks.

The temple Master would confide to the Rosedales that even for all their dedication and years of training, none of his monks were Enlightened. That would become Brad’s new mission. He would have his final Enlightenment experience, and finally beat the monks.