MOTORISTS are used to kangaroos and cyclists on the highway, but the New England Highway is currently home to a barefoot Buddhist monk.
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Jinasiri the walking monk, or Jason Chan as he was born, doesn’t give interviews to mainstream media, but a search on the internet reveals plenty about his travels.
Jinasiri said he had walked from the Gold Coast to Townsville and was now on his way to Sydney “to see my folks”.
He walks barefoot on the hot asphalt and carries little on him except a bag and a water bottle and wears the traditional orange robes.
Jinasiri relies on the kindness of passersby for food and water.
He is one of the “walking bhikkhus” who live the homeless life of ordained disciples of the Buddha in accordance with descriptions contained in the oldest extant historical record of the Buddha’s teaching – the Pali Canon. They wander from place to place, homelessly, with their robes and almsbowl as their only material possessions and people are asked to offer food and water.
The 31-year-old was a law student at Sydney University and left that behind to train as a monk at a monastery in Canberra before he went to Sri Lanka.
After spending a year abroad learning the Buddhist ways, kind strangers bought him a plane ticket home.
Jinasiri has told others (quoted in blog posts and those who’ve spoken to him in his travels) he wanted to rid his life of greed and hatred and inspire others to do the same.
It is believed he will continue walking for the rest of his life, living off the kindness of strangers.