Congratulations Rev. Endo!

Saw this article in the Asahi Shinbun this weekend and felt like posting here:

Endo Mitsunaga, a priest at Enryakuji temple in Otsu, blesses followers Friday after finishing a grueling 1,000-day Buddhist training session earlier in the day. The 34-year-old walked nearly 40,000 kilometers, equal to the circumference of the Earth, during a pilgrimage largely to peaks and valleys on Mount Hieizan, on the border of Shiga and Kyoto prefectures. Mitsunaga, who started the training in March 2003, is only the 13th priest to accomplish the mission in the postwar era, and the 50th since 1571, when warlord Oda Nobunaga ordered the temple on Mount Hieizan to be burned.(IHT/Asahi: September 19,2009)

I’ve written before about the famous Kaihogyo ritual observed by monks of the Tendai sect on Mt. Hiei¹ before, but I wanted to emphasize that this special ceremony is not the norm for Tendai. This is a very special undertaking within Tendai, and those who survive the ordeal are obviously very special individuals.

Tendai Buddhism, among Japanese Buddhist sects, is rather unusual in its all-inclusive approach. Where some sects specialize in a given practice or teaching, Tendai has from the beginning tried to be all things to all Buddhists. So, it’s quite eclectic and just about every teaching and practice can be found within its fold, including some unique innovations such as the Kaihogyo. The point here is that one should be careful in assuming all Tendai monks undergo this trial, or that Tendai as a whole is always this austere.

In any case, I wanted to extend a congratulations to Rev. Endo on his success in completing the trial. Anyone who can endure this certainly deserves some credit.

¹ Whose main surviving temple is called Enryakuji. I say “surviving” as it was destroyed by the famous warlord Oda Nobunaga who considered its army of “warrior-monks” at the time a dangerous threat. Few if any records survive from Enryakuji or Mt. Hiei from before that time.