Japanese Buddhist monk known for ascetic achievements dies.
KYOTO, Sept. 24 KyodoBuddhist monk Yusai Sakai, known for twice achieving a significant feat of ascetic training in the 1980s, died of heart failure on Monday, his family said Tuesday. He was 87.
Sakai, a monk of the Tendai school of Buddhism, achieved the feat known as "sennichi kaihogyo" in 1980 after having walked some 40,000 kilometers through mountainous areas on the 848-meter Mt. Hiei and in the city of Kyoto over a period of seven years. The Tendai sect is headquartered at the Enryaku temple on Mt. Hiei in the city of Otsu, capital of Shiga Prefecture.
In 1987, Sakai repeated the feat at the age of 60.
Sakai was the third person to have achieved "sennichi kaihogyo" twice since 16th-century warlord Oda Nobunaga destroyed the Enryaku temple in 1571.
In 1991, Sakai also made a pilgrimage to the 3,058-meter Mt. Wutai in China's Shanxi Province and joined with Chinese monks in praying for the souls of war victims. Mt. Wutai is known as a sacred site in Chinese Buddhism.
In 1995, Sakai visited the Vatican and met with Pope John Paul II (1920-2005).
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| Publication: | Asian Economic News |
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| Date: | Sep 30, 2013 |
| Words: | 188 |
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