A completely random scientific study showed that a 1000-year-old ancient Buddhist statue contains the perfectly preserved remains of a mummified monk, which is currently considered the only such example in the world.
The researchers who conducted the study suggest that in China or Tibet in the 10th century, a monk sitting in a lotus position died of hunger as a result of an act of prolonged meditation. After that, his mummified remains were exhibited in the monastery. But, after about 200 years, perhaps after a longer period, the mummy began to disintegrate, which forced the monks to walled it up in a complex statue of Buddha.
The unusual contents of the statue were discovered back in the 1990s, when the statue was restored. However, at that time, experts could not destroy the statue without the risk of the mummy disintegrating and limited themselves to research with fiber optic probes, which were inserted into the cavity of the Buddha statue. Now, an international team of German, Dutch and Italian scientists have performed a CT scan of the statue, which allowed us to see the skeleton of the monk in great detail.
“The monks of Tibet often practiced long meditations, turning their bodies into mummies, but it is really unusual to find a human body inside a statue. This is the only known example in the world. Using computed tomography, we saw that inside the statue was a perfectly preserved body with skin and muscles. That is, it is a real mummy, not just a skeleton. The monk was between 30 and 50 years old,”says German paleontologist Wilfried Rosendahl, who led the study.
The mummy was studied by an interdisciplinary team of experts, including radiocarbon dating specialists and textile analysts, at Meander Medical Center in Amersfoort, the Netherlands.
Using an endoscope, the experts took samples from the chest and abdomen of the mummy and found that the monk's organs had been removed and replaced with reams of paper printed in Chinese characters. Bone samples were also taken for DNA testing.
The Buddha statue was bought decades ago in the art market by a Dutch private collector who had no idea that a mummy was hidden inside the statue. The mummy will now be on display in museums across Europe, although it is currently housed in the Natural History Museum in Budapest.
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Dr. Rosendahl explains to us how it all happened: “The monk died in the process of self-mummification, for which he stopped eating for some time and took only water. He eventually fell into a trance, stopped breathing, and died. After that, other monks put it by the fire to dry it and put it on display in the monastery. The mummified monks were the center of religious worship and were important to the monastery's economy as they attracted masses of pilgrims and donations. Probably, this went on for 200 years, after which the mummy began to disintegrate and was placed in a statue."
Editorial comment
The thesis “the monk's organs were removed and replaced with reams of paper printed with Chinese characters” from the lips of archaeologists sounds rather amusing, since inside the mummy there are not “piles” of paper”, but some very serious occult texts that determined the purpose of the mummy.
Similar objects are found in the burials of the Egyptians and Babylonians, only among the pharaohs, kings and nobles, the texts placed inside were performed on gold, and for mummies, papyrus, leather, clay tablets, and so on were used more simply. Therefore, these "reams of paper" are likely even more interesting than the mummy itself.
There are also big doubts in the assertion of archaeologists that this case is “the only one in the world”. Who actually checked?
Historians are well aware of the ritual of the so-called “construction sacrifice,” when people were immured alive in the foundation and walls of important structures. If you dig any medieval fortress there, at least in the tower containing the gate, they will find the skeleton of a child. Therefore, in numerous sculptures and monuments there may well be people immured in softened stone. Or even not people at all.