There are several dozen mummified Japanese monks known as Sokushinbutsu in Yamagata Prefecture in northern Japan. They brought themselves to a natural death, which led to their further mummification. This horrible practice was first introduced by a priest named Kuukai over 1000 years ago. Kuukai was the founder of the chignon Buddhist sect, which introduced the idea of enlightenment through physical torture. This process of self-mummification takes 10 years, it is believed that hundreds of monks tried to do this with themselves, but it turned out to turn into a mummy only for a few dozen.
These mummies have survived to this day, especially sophisticated tourists even come specially to look at Sokushinbutsu. Let's see what it is.
In the 9th century, Japanese Buddhism was replenished with another sect, which was sharply different from the majority, professing self-torture and all sorts of cruel experiments on its own body. In the history of mankind, one can count dozens of religious fanatical trends, the adherents of which directed the fruits of their inflamed imagination to outsiders, posing a threat to the health and life of the latter - one has only to remember the human sacrifices. Against the background of such, the Shingon sect looks quite harmless, because besides themselves, they did not touch anyone at all, and participation in torture rituals was completely voluntary. In addition to mutilating their bodies, they had an interesting procedure of self-mummification, which is described today.
As is clear from the title of the article, this practice was called in Japanese sokushinbutsu, which in translation means "achieving the state of Buddha during life." It is believed that monks who turned their remains into incorruptible do not die at all, but reach a special state "between life and death," constantly being in a state of meditation and detached contemplation. They can even communicate with the world of the dead, only with the living is a problem, but the enlightened do not need it.
The process of mummification has been perfected by trainees for hundreds of years and consisted of three stages for a thousand days. That is, the path to the state of a mummy took almost ten years and required extreme mental and physical strength from the monk, because it is always not easy to kill yourself, especially slowly. History is silent about how many adepts skillfully prematurely, without reaching the desired level of "Buddhahood."
More than a thousand years ago, a Japanese monk named Kukai decided to set an example of supreme self-denial and devotion to God by turning himself into a mummy. This is how a practice called "sokushinbutsu" appeared - a special long procedure of preparation for death "without decay". If successful, the resulting mummy was placed with honors in the temple - for veneration by other believers.
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Kukai himself (774 - 835 AD) was a Japanese monk, official, scientist, poet, artist, and founder of an esoteric sect known as the Shingon-shu, which combined elements of Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism and other religions. Towards the end of his life, Kukai entered a state of deep meditation and gave up food and water, which ultimately led to his voluntary death. His body was buried on Mount Koya. After a while, the grave was opened and Kukai was found in a state similar to a dream - his body did not change, and his hair was healthy and strong.
The process of turning oneself into a mummy is quite long - it takes more than two thousand days (i.e. about 5.5 years).
The first step is to rid your body of fat. To do this, a Buddhist who decides to mummify, sits on a diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, and sits on it for a thousand days.
The next task is to drive out as much water as possible. And since the body consists mostly of liquid, then at this stage there is serious discomfort. During this period, the monk allows himself to chew on a little pine bark and roots. Another thousand days pass in this way.
Then a special, very poisonous tea is drunk, made from the sap of the lacquer tree (Pilot used this sap to produce unique ink; approx. Mixstuff.ru).
If tea causes diarrhea and vomiting, then everything is going according to plan. Thus, part of the liquid leaves the body, but, which is much more important for the future mummy, the sap of the lacquer tree soaks the insides, as if “cements them” and protects them from the formation of any larvae.
And the final stage - still alive, but already quite the mummy sits down in the lotus position in a tiny room with stone walls, where it is sealed. All. It remains to meditate and wait for death. The grave corresponded to the proportions of his body, because it was there in a motionless position. The only connection to the outside world was the air pipe and the bell. Every day the monk rang the bell to let others know that he was still alive.
When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the grave was sealed to prevent air from entering. After the bell sounded for the last time, they counted three years and dug out the finished sokushinbutsu. Despite many years of preparation, there were no guarantees that the mummification would be successful, even more so - over the 900-year history of the sect's existence, no more than 24 cases of monks turning into full-fledged mummies are known. The vast majority of practitioners had to be buried "humanly" because their remains were even very perishable. True, there is a note here - a full-fledged process is possible only under the condition of spiritual enlightenment, otherwise all physical actions would lose their meaning. But the imperishable remains of Orthodox monks in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra showthat the desired result can be achieved without any self-torture.
If a monk successfully mummified, he was exhibited in the temple for everyone to see. However, often during the opening of the grave, only a decomposed corpse was found, there were few successful cases
Mummies were sealed along with personal belongings that they had before death. Their eyes were removed, but it was believed that they see and feel everything that is happening around.
Buddhists believe that if you completely detach yourself from the physical world and thus achieve enlightenment, then in the next life, instead of being reborn, you can go straight to the state of Buddha.
"Living Buddhas" can be seen in temples in the north of the main Japanese island of Honshu, most often they are found in small temples lost in the sacred Yamagata mountains. They are little known and rarely visited by tourists. In the more famous Dainichi temple, mummies can be seen, but for this you need to ask the priests.
Self-mummification for the most part was carried out not only for the sake of "idle pleasure" of merging with the absolute. The monks were driven by completely worldly desires to help others. It was believed that flesh-killing practices cleared the surrounding land from epidemics, floods, droughts, crop failure and other negativity. In addition, "sokushinbutsu" was an attempt to resist the most common "disease" of mankind - death, because, as I have already mentioned, it was believed that the mummies did not die, but, as it were, continued to live in another dimension. Whether it is true or not is not for us to judge.
The first known incarnation in "sokushinbutsu" took place in 1081 and the last in 1903. Currently, this practice is prohibited by the Japanese government, no Buddhist sect has the right to carry it out, although there would be many who wish.