There is no limit to human capabilities. Nikola Tesla.
The climate of Japan is not suitable for mummification. There are no peat bogs, no arid deserts, no icy alpine peaks. Japan is hot and humid in summer. However, the Japanese were more perspicacious. Like the Egyptian pharaohs, the Japanese monks also dreamed of leaving for eternity and looking beyond the horizon into the distant future.
A long time ago, a group of Buddhist monks from the Shingon sect developed a method of self-mummification. That is, when a person turns himself into a mummy. I must say, the task was not easy. But the samurai coped with it.
The mummification ceremony began with a strict ascetic diet in the sacred mountains of northern Yamagata Prefecture.
the rules of science. In fact, the number of lucky ones can be much higher, since not all mummies have been found. Many monks, before going into deep meditation, hid themselves in caves before their final transformation into a mummy.
According to experts, the rite was developed by a ninth-century monk named Kūkai. It is also called K փ b փ Daishi. In 806, he founded the famous esoteric school of Buddhism Shingon.
In the 11th century, the "Life of Kūkai" appeared, where the author argued that in 835 the monk Daishi did not die for good, but hid in a special tomb and entered the nyūj փ. That is, so deep meditation that it looks like death in all respects.
According to this "life of Kūkai" the monk is going to spend only 6 million years in meditation. Then he will go out to people and take some of them to nirvana.
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The first, so to speak, official attempt to become a sokushinbutsu (Buddha in this very body) was recorded in 1081. Monk Shojin tried to follow the recipes of the ancient Kukai and buried himself alive in a secret cave. Like his idol, Shojin hoped to get to the distant future and save sinful people there. However, when Shojin's disciples came to retrieve the body, it was found that it was decomposing. That is, a technological error was made somewhere. Shojin's body was buried humanly.
But Japanese monasticism did not give up. A legion of followers rushed after the pioneer. Many did not succeed. They died and rotted. It took a long time. Until, finally, they accurately calculated the composition of useful products for mummification and made a diet.
As you may have guessed, this process is long and painful. Not everyone can do it. The diet itself takes a thousand days. That is, at least three years. A person, in fact, eats only what he finds in the mountains: a blade of grass, a berry, a twig, a flower and bark of trees. You can drink dew by licking stones or make tea from the same bark. In between meals, one should meditate.
During this thousand days, a person either breaks down or becomes obsessed. Some leave to eat off and teach young people, others continue their journey into the future. In a thousand days, the lucky monk is freed from any fat in the body. A lot of water goes out of the body. Muscles are significantly reduced in size. The body is very dry. They say that tea from the bark of the Toxicodendron vernicifluum tree helps mummification well.
This Japanese tree is commonly used to make the famous urushi varnish. The bark of toxicodendron contains toxic compounds, like poison ivy. Taking such a drug, the monks saturated their bodies with poisons. The decomposition of the body became impossible. So today Europeans saturate themselves with preservatives and do not decompose in the cemetery.
By the way, there were times when monks went through two or even three cycles of the diet before going into deep meditation.
When the monk felt the approach of death, the disciples lowered him into a special pine box at the bottom of a three-meter pit. Ash was densely poured around the box. Bamboo breathing tubes were inserted into the lid of the box and the monk was covered with earth. Sitting at the bottom of the pit, in pitch darkness, the monk meditated and nothing distracted him from his important work. True, from time to time, he had to ring the bell, announcing that he was still alive.
When the ringing stopped, the students opened the box, convinced of the teacher's “death” (it was assumed that he was in deep meditation), took out the bamboo pipes and again covered the box with earth.
After a thousand days, the grave was torn up, opened and the body examined for signs of decay. If the body decayed, it was buried in the same pit. If not, the monk was recognized as a true sokushinbutsu and taken to a special secret place. Under the eternal protection of the monks.
The last sokushinbutsu was a monk named Bukkai. He passed away in 1903. Three decades later, after the authorities declared the mummification ritual itself illegal. Most people thought Bukkai was insane. However, the mummification was a success. In 1961, researchers from Tohoku University examined the monk's body and were completely delighted with its safety. Today, Bukkaya's remains are found in Kanzeonji in neighboring Niigata Prefecture.
In total, 16 sokushibutsu have survived throughout Japan. 13 of them are in the Tohoku region. Seven out of eight mummies remain in the vicinity of Mount Yamagata. What has become an ideal place for pilgrimage.
The oldest mummy was once called Shinnyokai. This monk entered nyūj փ in 1783 at the age of 96. Like the rest of the mummies, he sits in lotus position in a glass box in a small Buddhist temple. His skin is ash gray. Covers sharp facial features and hand bones. The mummy is dressed in luxurious robes. They are changed every six years. Old clothes are cut into small pieces and put into silk bags. The people willingly buy up these relics as protective amulets from the evil eye and disease.
Another sokushinbutsu Tetsumonkai is located in the neighboring town of Churenji. Tetsumonkai entered nyujo in 1829 at the age of 71. He was once a commoner. In a quarrel, he killed a samurai and fled to the mountains. Became a monk. Doros to the head priest in Honmioji. It is a short drive from where his remains are now stored.
Here he was assigned to look after another sokushinbutsu, Honmyokai. The oldest mummified monk in Yamagata. The samurai priest Honmyokai spent 20 years in ascetic training. On May 8, 1681, the disciples lowered him into a pit behind the temple and buried him alive. A massive stone slab with an epitaph has survived to this day. Honmuokai now also works in the tourism industry. His remains are on display for all to see.