A Chinese statue contains a hidden treasure - a possibly self-made mummy.
A CT scan and endoscopy of The Buddha, a statue exhibited at Drents Museum in The Netherlands, was performed last year under the watchful eye of art expert Erik Brujin, according to CNet. Inside is a mummy, "the only one of its kind ever found," according to CNet. The mummy is folded up in the same position as The Buddha and it is believed to be Buddhist master Liuquan from the Chinese Meditation School. Liuquan died about 1100 A.D.
The thoracic cavity and abdomen contained samples of an unidentified material. In place of the mummy's organs, scraps of paper covered with ancient Chinese characters were found in their stead. The research team thinks the mummy was due to "self-mummification" - a process used to become "a living Buddha" and to achieve a higher level of enlightenment, according to CNet.
The case appears similar to a 200-year-old mummy found in Mongolia that HNGN reported on earlier this month. Senior Buddhists said the man is not dead, but in a state called "tukdam" - ancient deep meditation used to become a Buddha.
According to CNet, monks in Japan would start the process of self-mummification with a special diet: 1,000 days of water, seeds and nuts followed by another 1,000 days of roots, pine bark and a special tea. The tea is made from Chinese lacquer tree sap, which is toxic and usually used to lacquer bowls and plates. The monks looking to attain self-mummification would ingest the sap to shellac their insides and protect them from maggots and bacteria. A stone tomb would be the resting place once death came, but not final and not forgotten.
A thousand days post-mortem, the monks would unseal the tomb. Those who were mummified would be brought to the temples for adoration. Those who were not fully mummified would remain in the resealed tomb but given respect for trying.
It is unknown if the Japanese mummies had paper inserted in place of their organs.
Liuquan had departed Drents Museum and will reside in the Hungarian Natural History Museum until May 2015.
