Elisabeth’s Reviews > The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei > Status Update

Certainly they seem light-years ahead of the rest of us when it gives to mind-body connection and control.

A friend of my sister's who converted from Buddhism to Catholicism, lamented that her ability to meditate was atrophying as it isn't an encouraged part of Western Catholicism, and how she needed to think more about how to integrate the truly good things from her Buddhist training into the true faith.

The fascinating thing to me about these marathon monks is that a prerequisite to their 1,000 day marathon is the ability to meditate. That's what they deemed necessary to be able to endure the incredible physical demands of running daily marathons for years, not physical training. It's so so interesting. It makes me wonder what we're missing in the West.

Also, they've determined that the monks are at a daily calorie deficit by at least several hundreds of calories, if not more. Yet they are physically very healthy looking and at a good weight. I don't get it.