The Marathon Monk

A Kung-Fu teacher once told me the true story of a monk from Japan, who was part of a sect of an Eastern spiritual tradition. In order to reach enlightenment this monk had a very specific path:
He had to run 1,000 marathons through the mountains, and half way through, stop to meditate for 9 days with no food, water, or speech. If he failed to complete this mission, they believed that the only honorable thing for him to do would be to face death, by committing suicide.
Each morning he would wake up, take a shower in a cold waterfall, then put on his clothes and leave for the day. He would take a knife with him, to aide his suicide if he failed, and prayer beads, for his daily practice of mantras while running.
He went on like this for years.
When he finally completed his training, he was considered to be enlightened by his people, so he would pray for them, say mantras over them, and apparently many miraculous healings occurred.
The Kung-Fu teacher asked this monk for some advice:
The monk said, “Live each day, as if it is your life.”
When asked what he meant he said that each night when you sleep it is as if you die, and each day you are re-born anew. So live that new life to the fullest, by doing your practices with full presence.
It made me think of what the Prophet, peace & blessings upon him taught us to say the moment we open our eyes: “All gratitude & praise to Allah, the one gives us life after death (referring to sleep), and to whom we shall return.”
If you want to fill your days and your life with spiritual energy, presence, and the inner-resolve of the Marathon Monk, put your Nike’s on, trek through the mountains and get yourself all the way over to The Ocean:
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PS. You won’t need to bring a knife – if we kill anything, it’ll be the ego.