Five years ago I made a commitment to do a 20 minute mindfulness walk ever day during my lunch hour at the Botanics. I put a blog post on the Wild Geese website inviting people to join me and occasionally they have. I’ve managed to stick with it through all weathers although I don’t always walk at exactly 1pm as I did at the beginning. I guess that I have now walked the same route a thousand times. The daily routine lead to the development of the whole Marathon Monk project and forms a big part of it now.
Back in March this year I noticed that the horticultural team had cleared a patch of ground near where I start the walk. Apparently they were going to erect a “sculpture” donated by the local Chinese community. It would be marble, 4.5m high and weigh 13 tonnes. I asked about it in the estates department and they showed me a picture of a Buddhist stupa!
At the beginning I’d thought that if I consistently practiced in one spot it would set up a kind of positive energy and maybe people would gravitate to that spot as a nice place to relax but this was a fanciful thought not a motivation. I’m a scientist after all. I chose the Chinese Hillside because it is a sheltered spot away from roads and has a bit of a Zen feel. If someone was going to build a stupa the chances they would build it where I was walking were higher than elsewhere. My science brain says the serendipity dice were loaded but it still freaks me out. Could my circumambulation cause a stupa to manifest?
Adding to the freaky feeling is that Ani Lodro Maverika, a former Tibetan nun who lived next door to the Botanics and was very important to deepening my practice, used to complain about the spot I had chosen to start my walks. She said nobody would ever find it and that I should choose somewhere with a landmark. She died in 2015. I can’t help but feel the stupa is part of her continuation.
I’m sure it is all just coincidence –
I’m grateful to the Chinese community for supporting my practice – even though they probably don’t realise they are doing it. The stupa, and a new ting, were dedicated on 28th April 2018.
- Marathon Monk: Back story
- Lay Pedestrian meets Marathon Monk
- Lay Pedestrian resolves to mug Marathon Monk
- Setting Off on Project Marathon Monk
- Marathon Monk Index
- Marathon Monk: June 2017 – 8 days & 48 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk and the Pointless Pole
- Marathon Monk: July 2017 – 22 days & 132 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: August 2017 – 33 days & 198 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: September 2017 – 47 days & 282 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: October 2017 – 62 days & 372 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: November 2017 – 78 days & 468 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: December 2017 – 89 days & 534 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: January 2018 – 97 days & 582 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: February 2018 – 112 days & 672 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: March 2018 – 125 days & 750 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: April 2018 – 137 days & 822 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: May 2018 – 152 days & 912 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: June 2018 – 166 days & 996 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: July 2018 – 182 days & 1,092 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: August 2018 – 199 days & 1,194 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: September 2018 – 217 days & 1,302 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: October 2018 – 233 days & 1,398 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: November 2018 – 248 days & 1,488 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: December 2018 – 258 days & 1,548 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: January to March 2019 – 281 days & 1,686 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: April 2019 – 301 days & 1,806 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: May & June 2019 – 323 days & 1,938 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: July 2019 – 340 days & 2,040 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: August 2019 – 358 days & 2,148 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: September-November 2019 – 399 days & 2,394 mindful miles
- Marathon Monk: To 23rd March 2020 – 441 days & 2,646 mindful miles & into Covid-19 Lockdown