![]() Then for the next thousand days the monk ate only pine needles and bark. He spent this nearly three years meditating and continuing to perform service to the temple and community. But they also believed that this spiritual power only lasted as long as their physical bodies remained to tie them to the Earth, so it was vital that their bodies be preserved through mummification.Ī monk who chose to perform self-mummification, or sokushinbutsu, began by abstaining from grains and cereals, eating only fruits and nuts for one thousand days. The monks believed their sacrifice would allow them to live in the Tusita Heaven for 1.6 million years, with the power to grant requests and protect the humans on Earth. Their suffering prior to death allowed them to go to the Tusita Heaven, one of several Buddhist heavens whose residents enjoy extremely long life spans before they reenter the cycle of reincarnation. The monks who mummified themselves (including Tetsumonkai) considered their death an act of redemption and salvation for humankind. When his herbal remedies had no effect on the epidemic, Tetsumonkai cut out his left eye and threw it in the Sumida River while praying for the end of the epidemic, believing that his sacrifice commanded a higher level of respect and attention from the gods. For example, in the late 18th century the Shingon monk Tetsumonkai travelled through what is now Tokyo during the outbreak of an eye disease that caused blindness. But they also believed that their sacrifices could serve the community through spiritual means. This manifested in a lot of the usual community service: feeding the poor, caring for the elderly, treating the sick. These monks also believed deeply in self-sacrifice in service to others. ![]() They would meditate under icy waterfalls or walk across hot coals to practice ignoring their physical selves. These Shingon monks practiced extreme asceticism, believing that physical deprivation allowed them to see beyond the illusion of the physical world. The mummified monks of the Yamagata province had belonged to the Shingon school of Buddhism, which combined esoteric Buddhism with native Shinto beliefs. Close examination of the temple records revealed that this live-mummification wasn’t some kind of torture or ritual murder, but rather ritual suicide. So when the researchers began examining the Yamagata mummies, they were startled to find that the monks’ internal organs were still intact, and had begun to dry before death. To prevent bacteria, insects, and fungi from decomposing the mummy, the mummifier usually begins by extracting the internal organs to remove the most tempting food sources for the critters of decay. The researchers hoped to examine the temple mummies to uncover the details of this specific mummification process. But mummification is a tricky business, especially in a climate as humid as Japan’s. In fact, four leaders of the Fujiwara tribe had been mummified in the twelfth century and were still kept in a great golden temple hall in northeastern Japan. ![]() Instead, they were dressed in monks’ robes, their dried, leathery skin visible on their faces and hands. Unlike the Egyptian mummies that are most familiar to the Western world, these Japanese mummies were not wrapped in cloth. The mummies were each kept on display in a place of honor in the temples, and were maintained by the temple monks. Soon after the discovery, several Japanese universities formed the Investigating Committee for Mummies to study them. The year before, several researchers investigating rumors of local mummies had discovered six mummified Buddhist monks in five temples in Yamagata prefecture. They were probably a bit startled, then, when a group of scientists and historians showed up in 1960 and asked to see their mummies. Many of the men serving in the temples come seeking solitude and an escape from the modern world. These holy sites are sparsely populated, their forests interrupted only occasionally by isolated Buddhist temples. The mountains of Japan’s Yamagata prefecture are considered sacred by the Buddhists in the region. Art (2) 9th century B.C.Please put on sunglasses so that you are not blinded by the shininess of our newest author, Erika Nesvold. Art (3) 7th centry Art (1) 7th century B.C. Art (2) 15th century Art (127) 16th century Art (310) 17th century Art (214) 18th century Art (149) 19th century Art (1639) 1st-century BC Art (2) 20th century Art (4145) 21st Century Art (2560) 2nd century Art (1) 2nd Century BC Art (1) 3nd Century Art (1) 4th century BC Art (3) 5th century BC Art (1) 6th century B.C. 12th century Art (2) 13th Century Art (5) 14th Century Art (16) 14th century B.C.
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