70 Mile Pilgrimage for Greenpeace and Local Futures
Duncan Baird is raising money for Greenpeace
Participants: None
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Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
As some of you may know, I am walking the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage trail in Japan for 9 days from 31st October. As part of my inner and outer journey I want to raise money for Greenpeace's Environmental Trust and I would be very very grateful if you would sponsor me! Please donate whatever you feel you can - any donation helps to make a difference.
There is nothing more important than helping our world towards a sustainable future.
In addition, I will contribute a further 25% of what we raise to one of my favourite charities Local Futures. I first came across them in Ladakh, and have since become aware of the extremely important work Helena Norberg-Hodge and her dedicated team are doing to teach the economics of happiness - ecological, social and spiritual wellbeing.
Please visit their website https://www.localfutures.org
A heartfelt thank you for your support - you are helping see the future through for our beautiful but fragile world
I will be walking 70 miles in all, of which 50 miles are on the on the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage. The journey includes the three grand shrines known as the Kumano Sanzen, symbolising the Past (Hayatama Taisha), the Present (Nachi Taisha), and the Future (Hongu Taisha), and finishes at Ise, home to the most important shrine in Japan, the Naiku, the Grand Shrine of the sun goddess Amaterasu.
The pilgrimage for me will begin in Nara, at the Todai-Ji temple (AD 752), with its 53 feet tall bronze statue of the cosmic Buddha Vairochana. I will then travel by bus to the holy temple town of Koyasan in the woods and mountains south of Osaka. It is said that the 8 peaks and basin resemble a lotus, making it a very auspicious location. It is the birthplace of Shingon Buddhism in Japan. At Koyasan's Okunoin, one of Japan's most sacred places, there are prayers for the journey ahead.
The walking will include both open stretches and mountain passes. There are uphill climbs and then winding trails through forests and along ridges and a number of steep ascents and descents. I'm anticipating 8 - 12 miles a day in a landscape which is perhaps like walking in the Highlands of Scotland!
The pilgrim trail ends at Ise on the Pacific for a final thank you and blessing at Shinto's most revered shrine complex by the Isuzu river. Ise is dedicated to two major divinities and is the Shinto's holiest place. The Naiku, or Inner Shrine, is dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu and, in a complementary way, the Outer shrine, the Geku is dedicated to the goddess of the harvest Toyouoke.
Shinto and Buddhism have coexisted and influenced each other for the past 1500 years. The Kumano Kodo is a journey through this history. Here the pilgrims on the path of the dharma were also fully alive to the life spirit of the kami - the spirit-beings governing the natural world. I will be walking through the centuries, deep in nature, and at the season of autumn, when impermanence is in our minds.
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