Daily Signet

John Stevens has written a book called The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei. He tells of an order of Buddhist monks in Japan whose practice is running. At 1:30 every morning, they start to run and their course covers from eighteen to twenty-five miles. The mountain's most treacherous area is called "the slope of instant sobriety." These monks run every night. They do not change their schedule because of season or weather. They wear white robes rather than the traditional black because white is the color of death, and there is always the chance that they will die while running. While they run, they each carry a sheath knife and a length of rope. If they fail in their nightly quest on this path of danger, they have vowed to take their own lives.                                                                           

Donna Leichtling

On This Day…

Ghambar Ayathrem begins — Zarathushti celebration of the creation of plants, the sowing of the winter crop and the return of herds from pasture