Saturday, July 28, 2012

Buddhist monk competing in Olympics

Wisdom Quarterly
"Usain - not every man wants to be the fastest in the world," Durex brags on billboard.
  
Ven. Kenki Sato is in London competing in the Olympics. The sport he is competing in is -- not the archery Siddhartha was so good at, which would currently have him being beat by a blind man -- equestrian. Sensei is a Mahayana Buddhist monastic who resides in Myoshoji Temple, Japan. 
  
"Oh, I get it! That's pretty funny."
The monastery is located in the mountains near Nagano. His father, Shodo, is the 25th master of the 460-year-old temple and adjacent horse-riding club. Sensei follows his younger brother Eiken, who not only trained as a monk but in addition rode at the Beijing Olympics. His 24-year-old sister, Tae, is a five-time national show-jumping champion.

With his horse -- not named "Kanthaka" like Siddhartha's boyhood pony -- "Boy Toy," the venerable monk is seen on the track. He has won two gold medals in individual and team jumping at the 16th Asian Games in 2010.

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