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Monk Leaves Footprints In Wood After 20 Years Of Prayer

McAvennie

McAvennie

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Mar 13, 2003
Messages
3,998
I understand why it appears bogus, but additional data makes me think this is real.

The photo accompanying the Metro article is lit and taken from an angle so as to obscure the depressions in the floorboard.

Here's another photo that more clearly depicts the depressions his feet have made.

CvXGyD7KjD5GyUMuTnQv_monk2.jpg

​
He's not standing still when he prays - in fact, he's not standing at all. He kneels before a mat and repeatedly prostrates himself upon the mat. His feet stay in one location, but they rub or squirm on the wood. There's a video / animation illustrating his feet when moving into the prostrate position here:

https://mymodernmet.com/hua-chi-prayer-footprints/

(This site is the source for the photo I posted above.)
 
Ok, makes it a little more plausible, but I'm still not convinced.

See this demonstration gif, this makes me believe mores the toes could rub away the wood to create an indentation, but not a perfectly carved replica of the foot.

xB-fz9mBdYj2IT-NY586_monk1.gif


Look when he pushes forward, the ball of his foot is off the ground, yet below there is an indentation in the wood. How is that being formed? If he stands still it is not happening and when he moves forward there is no contact between his foot and the wood. Also his little toe is not even touching the wood, yet there is a deep little toe imprint. Come on...
 
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Furniture can leave indentations in wood flooring.
 
There's one potentially critical bit of data we don't know yet - i.e., what sort of wood is used in that particular flooring.
 
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My initial response was to call bullshit. But the photo in EnolaGaia's post, and the video in McAvennie's made me think on.

People who habitually go barefoot develop very tough, raspy, skin on the soles of their feet and under their toes. The motion of the toes slipping back very slightly every time the man kneels and rises, regularly, and over a very long period of time - I can actually see how that might wear stock away in the toe area. This is possibly less the case with the heel, sole and ball area - however, twenty years of very regular percussive action in a very localised area is likely to have at least some compressive effect on the fibres of the wooden boards.

EnolaGaia said:
There's one potentially critical bit of data we don't know yet - i.e., what sort of wood is used in that particular flooring.
Click to expand...

There's another thing, too. Looking at the impressions of the toes on the left foot, the images seem to indicate that there may be some sort of anomaly with the little toe. It might be useful to see the toes on his left foot.
 
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Any sweat from the foot might also have had an effect.
 
EnolaGaia said:
There's one potentially critical bit of data we don't know yet - i.e., what sort of wood is used in that particular flooring.
Click to expand...

Given the region it might be tempting to look at some kind of exotic hardwood - but, looking at what we can actually see of the boards, I suspect it's actually some sort of pine, or possibly an elm.
 
Hmm. Interesting. I reckon could be real.
This video from 2012 (before the metro report in 2014 but after the reuters 2009) has someone visiting the monk. You can clearly see other indentations from the mats and hand slide movement. There is a still shot at one point and you can see both his feet and they do seem to match.
Also the wood looks old and dry.

Also those toenails! Nassty;)
 
The story seems to have first been highlighted in a Reuters news article, on 26 February 2009:

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSTRE51P1XI20090226

For some reason, it resurfaced in the Metro, on 26 May, 2014 and again, within various publications during September 2016.

The stock photographs attribute similar background stories, however, two different monks are named.

The first is Hua Chi, subject of more recent publicity.

The other is Gedung Kalsa, who appears to be indicated as living much earlier, e. g.,"legend has it" (royalty free image):

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detai...astery-of-rongwo-royalty-free-image/520200064

I can find no other mention of him, online.
 
I have seen something like this where the daily devotional schedule includes repetitive positioning. Not that clear but it's probably old dry softwood. Not impossible.

Edit also note that if this practice involves prostrations, it's not uncommon to intend to do 1,000 a day, every day. If your feet are in the same place and if you sweat it might well mark the flooring.
 
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This passage from the Reuters article reflects a thought that's been teasing me since first reading about the footprints.

The monastery, which dates from 1301, is home to hundreds of youngsters studying Buddhist scriptures.

Twenty-nine-year-old Genden Darji says he spent many days admiring Hua's efforts before finding the courage to step into his footprints.

As he carefully repeats Hua's movements, the young monk says he plans to carry on the ritual when the older monk stops. ...

"Every day I come here and every day I look at the piece of wood, and it has inspired me to continue to make the footprints myself," he said.
Click to expand...

SOURCE: https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSTRE51P1XI20090226

Given the long history of the Longwu Temple in Qinghai ...

Might it be that the young monk's allusion to stepping "into his footprints" is literal rather than figurative? In other words ...

Might it be that the footprints are the result of multiple generations of monks' prostrations performed in the same exact place according to local tradition, and the various western news items are mistaken in attributing them to Hua Chi alone?
 
Mystery maybe resolved...?

Rongwo monastery is apparently known in Chinese as Longwu monastery.

Also, from the initial Reuters press release:

"Hua's devotion has not gone unnoticed by younger monks at the temple, which lies within the Rongwo Gonchen Gompa, Tongren's main Tibetan monastery"...

Furthermore, do we seemingly have definitive proof, of an unmitigated corroboration?

Screenshot_20200605_180643_resize_49.jpg


https://www.davidsamuelrobbins.com/index/G0000O.ccyJ_GEfM/I0000JLgBpP4dYtI
 
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