Hero the process of self-mummification on the living of Japanese monks

To be able to self-mummify, Japanese monks in ancient times underwent harsh cultivation and eating regimes that lasted for a decade. They consider it a form of enlightenment. After death, their bodies are fully preserved.

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More than 1,000 years ago, the art of self-embalming was invented by a Japanese monk Kukai. He mummified himself in the temple on Mount Koya, Wakayama Prefecture. When excavated, experts discovered the monk's body was like a sleeping person, his skin was unchanged and his hair grew longer.

Kukai (774-835) is a monk, scholar, poet, and artist, and the founder of the Shingon esoteric sect. This denomination combines elements from Buddhism, Shinto, Taoism, . and gives theories of enlightenment through corporal punishment.

The process of self-embalming lasts more than 3000 days, consists of 3 main stages with strict steps and suffering a lot of pain.

The first 1000 days, is the stage to reduce the amount of fat and meat in the body. This is the main cause of decomposition in mummies. In the first stage, monks have to make a special diet of nuts and fruits such as peanuts, soybeans, wild berries . and perform many physical activities with great intensity to push substances. fat out of the body. After going through this stage, the monks were only skin and bones, maintaining a weak life.

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At that time, the monks will move on to the next stage, lasting another 1000 days. At this stage, their food intake drops to the lowest possible level, eating only bark and roots. The amount of water in their bodies gradually depleted.

In the last 1,000 days, monks will drink poisonous tea made from Urushi resin, causing vomiting and quickly losing body fluids. At the same time, poison in tea also acts as a preservative, limiting bacteria that can decompose the body.

After the end of the "death" process, which lasted for about 6 years, the monks locked themselves in a monolithic tomb just a little bigger than the body and went into a state of meditation, in a sitting posture. "lotus" meditation until death. The grave door will be sealed, only a small air duct for air circulation.

Every day, the monk will vibrate a bell to bring to the grave so everyone outside knows he is still alive. When the bell rang, meaning the monk was dead, the air duct was sealed.

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1000 days later, the grave will be opened to check whether the mummification is successful. If successful, the monk will be honored as Buddha and worship in the temple. Conversely, if the body is decomposed, they will be buried in the ground carefully.

Of the hundreds of monks thought to have embalmed themselves, only 28 succeeded. By the 19th century, the self-embalming method had completely ended in Japan.