Extreme Pilgrim

Sussex vicar Peter Owen Jones sets out to explore the physical elements of three great religions - Zen Buddhism, Hinduism and ascetic Christianity - starting at the famous Shaolin Temple in China's Henan Province, where he is tutored in Buddhist kung fu techniques - an experience he finds both mentally challenging and physically exhausting. Pete arrives at the famous Shaolin Temple, a seven-hour train journey from Beijing in the Hevan Province, right in the centre of China. The Shaolin Monastery occupies a central place in Chinese cultural history, as it is the ancestral home of all martial arts. Pete says "The Church of England in particular is incredibly intellectual. You know, huge libraries full of books and theological bookshops. But we don't do anything physical. It's going to be very challenging indeed." Pete is thrown straight into a gruelling routine of Kung Fu, the central technique in Chan Buddhism (also known as Zen Buddhism in Japan).

Peter Owen-Jones travels to India and joins the Mela, the huge Hindu pilgrimage that draws to the Ganges. Pete meets a Guru who agrees to take him under his wing and teach him how to become a Sadhu – an Indian holy man. He then sets off on a journey across northern India to the mountains in search of the Hindu road to spiritual bliss.

In the last of his physical explorations of world religions, Peter Owen Jones crosses the Egyptian desert with a group of Bedouin to visit the monastery founded by the father of Christian monasticism, St Antony. There he meets Father Lazarus, who tells him that the path to enlightenment entails constant assaults by the devil and his demons. With this in mind, Jones embarks on three weeks of complete isolation, devoid of any physical comforts, in a cave high in the mountains above the monastery.