Buddhist Monk Mummies of Japan

Like most things about Japan, I tend to come across things accidentally. Like when looking up lost cities of Japan, I saw a link that mentioned mummies of Japan... really? Who knew?

Apparently no one knew until they were discovered back in July of 2010 in Yamagata-ken (Yamagata Prefecture) in Japan.

Now these weren't just any mummies - no they weren't royalty, nor were they Egyptians who had lost their way or Incas. Nope. These mere Buddhist monk mummies... which you kind of already figured out if you read the title of this blog.

In an effort to achieve enlightenment - no, not religious enlightenment, as Buddhism is technically not a religion but a philosophy - Buddhist monks committed suicide and mummified themselves.

Yes... you read that correctly... these monks mummified themselves. Now that's dedication. But how could someone mummify themselves if they committed suicide?

Our story begins back in the early 1800s in the aforementioned Yamagata-ken. Well, actually it begins in China. Maybe. Things are always hazy when it comes to history.

Would you slowly commit suicide for the sole purpose of religious enlightenment? There are approximately 24 Buddhist monks who did so in the Yamagata Prefecture that occurred until the early 1800s when it was outlawed. This practice became folklore until Buddhist monk mummies were discovered in July of 2010.

As to the origin of this practice, there is a common suggestion that Buddhist Shingon school founder Kukai brought a special tantric practice back with him from Tang China. That these secret practices were later lost in China is of no importance, since this a blog about Japan.

Cop-out aside, Kukai was apparently a Japanese monk, civil servant (these guys have been around forever!), scholar, poet and artist. He was also the founder of the Shingon aka the True Word school of Buddhism. He lived between 774 - 835 AD.

For your edification, Shingon Buddhism (真言宗 Shingon-shū) is known as one of the mainstream schools of Japanese Buddhism and one of the few surviving Esoteric Buddhist lineages that started in and around the 200s AD, originally spreading from India to China.

The word Shingon, by the way, is the Japanese reading of the Kanji for the Chinese word Zhēnyán (真言), literally meaning "True Words", which in turn is the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit word mantra (मन्त्र).

So... what was this secret practice that Kukai brought back with him? Known as Sokushinbutsu, it is the practice of self-mummification.

For about 1,000 years, hundreds of Buddhist monks attempted it - but if actual mummified evidence is to be believed, only 24 monks appeared to have actually been successful.

How did these monks do it?

First you have to go nuts... I mean the monks began a purification process that lasted 1,000 days (that's just under three years), whereby they only ate nuts and seeds in an effort to eliminate the body of fat.

Once those 1,000 days were over, a second 1,000-day phase would begin whereby the monks would only eat the bark of trees and plant roots, supplementing that by drinking a poisonous tea. No, it's not o-cha (Japanese green tea). This tea was made from the sap of the urushi tree. This sap was used to lacquer Japanese bowls. Needless to say, the monks became ill for this period and would have some pretty nasty diarrhea often combined with violent vomiting. The idea behind this was to make the body become poisonous and inedible to maggots and other bugs - meaning they essentially lacquered their own insides to ensure the body would not deteriorate through natural processes.      

Lotus position.

With 2,000 days in total now passed, a third phase of 1,000 days was needed to hopefully complete this journey towards spiritual enlightenment. The monk, now mostly self-mummified, would entomb himself into a stone cell barely larger than his body, where he would sit in the lotus position. The monk would remain in this position for the full 1,000 day cycle. Now lest you wonder how the monk would stay alive, the knack to becoming a Buddhist mummy was to actually die. The monk had an air tube going from within the stone cell to the outside world. As well, there was a small bell inside the room. Once a day, the monk would ring the bell to inform the outside world that he was still hideously alive and that he had failed in his attempt at achieving the next plane of existence. But... once the bell stopped its daily ringing, the air tube was removed, allowing the monk to complete his 1,000 days in peace and rest and harmony or whatever it is when people die of Sokushinbutsu, which may be a Japanese word  for a complete waste of effort. I mean, truly, aside from faith in this belief, no one really knows for sure.

When the end of days finally occurs, another monk - some poor dumb monk who has yet to achieve the next level of enlightenment and thus has to do the grunt work for the rest of the sect - opens up the tomb. He gets to see first-hand if the self-mummification ritualistic suicide actually worked properly.

If the body of the monk was mummified, there must have been quite the celebration - perhaps somebody whispered congratulations and slapped the dead monk on the back of the shoulders. Or perhaps there was more praying noting how miserable the rest of the living were for not having the stones to commit themselves to the rigor (mortis) of Sokushinbutsu.

The school would then remove the corpse from its recess, perhaps do some studying of architecture and then place the mummified monk as it would a piece of furniture someplace special in the temple for viewing. Perhaps even public viewing if the public had a yen or two for it.

While the whole process seems like a complete waste of time to me - these monks are wasting their own life trying to do something that will make them into a Buddha, rather than praying for the world or whatever it is that Buddhist monks actually pray for - I am impressed with their dedication.

Even for myself... when I die, my last wish is for everyone else to make sure I am not still alive - that's how deep my burning desire is for life and to avoid the burning after-effects of some hellish torture devised by the Catholic Church.

Yes... the monks got to eat for 1,000 days, but then they drank poison for another 1,000 days before putting themselves into the tortuous lotus position to mediate, pray and slowly starve to death (but at least the diarrhea and vomiting was over during this third phase...and fully over when the monk died.  

Anyhow, it is believed that the monks who are still alive apply spices to the body of the new Buddha as a preventative measure to keep the lacquered up body further safe from being bug bait.

Now... I'm going to present another part to this whole Sokushinbutsu ritual here. I found this on another site, but it says that after three dozen years (36) have passed, the spirit or soul of the new Buddha returns to his venerated corpse to live.

Now you might think that the soul man/corpse aka liche would be all love and happiness, but like in all legends involving mummies, the mummy doesn't always come back happy. Sometimes it is an evil bastard bent on the destruction of the human race. Apparently, this sometimes occurs in Sokushinbutsu.


Really? Three-thousand days of self mummification in the hopes of saving the universe as a new Buddha, and you come back as a deranged, evil bastard that brings about the ruin of the temple? That seems like a complete waste of time!

Personally, I think that when bad times befall someone or something, people are too apt to blame an evil spirit, rather than find the true culprit - themselves and the mismanagement of funds, foods, lands, life. Rather than just praying to whatever gods you pray to... sometimes you just need to get off your own ass and do something for yourself... it's why the gods gave us free will, a working mind and body and the ability to try.

Of course... that's just me. What the hell do I know about anything. Did you know this one? I do. Which would you rather be? The dead butterfly, or the living caterpillar? According to Zen Buddhism, you should rather be the dead caterpillar because it has achieved the next level of metamorphosis - a higher level of enlightenment that the poor living caterpillar may never achieve, what with all of life that could befall it. How can one argue with logic like that? It makes me want to go and hide myself in a cocoon of shame.

Anyhow... back to what was supposed to happen next.

Perhaps due to the ordeal of the 3,000-day Sokushinbutsu, or perhaps what occurred in the 36 years it lived in hell away from its body, sometimes the soul became crazed... incoherent... befuddled and apparently needs constant care from its brother monks at the temple.

Other times, the procedure of Sokushinbutsu has made the soul bitter, dark, twisted and evil with a hatred for all life and the living, bringing with it arcane knowledge to cause pain, sorrow and mischief (not my words... I might have said 'evil'). This is a very interesting Buddha. Perhaps it's an anti-Buddha. I mean, without true evil, how can one know true goodness? It sounds zen-like.

Speaking of goodness, the returning soul is benevolent and lives harmoniously with his brother monks playing shoji (Japanese chess) or something. Blah-blah-blah. While spiritually uplifting, it's not as interesting as the devilish Buddha spirit mummy! Sadly, there is no detailed information on what the temple does with these evil bastards. Perhaps they destroy them in some sort of Buddhist exorcism. I'll have to look that one up.

Hmmm... here's a video showing a Buddhist exorcism. Who knew?

So... what does a Buddha monk look like? Well... you've seen the photos up above, but they are usually adorned with the vestments of their order, bone thin, eyeless, but are able to perceive reality perfectly. Unless they are crazed or evil, of course. Eyeless, they see into the souls of the living.  

The happy Buddha monks - the actual Sokushinbutsu - are supposed to have the power to heal, cast spells and can remove evil spells.

Apparently the insane and evil monk mummies are not to be trusted, as they will try to kill other members of their order or try to flee into the outside world where they are often found lurking in ruins, caves or graveyards. They are often accompanied by ghouls (whom they have a power over) or weak-willed human followers who worship them. 

I can't make up stuff this good.  

Anyhow... I love the story of how the monks became or tried to become a Buddha, and take with a grain of salt how their spirit became crazed or evil. I think I prefer that they simply achieved the next level of enlightenment. Selfish, though it seems, when you think about it. Why not go out and do good deeds - pay it forward and hope that when enough is spread around the universe, the universe will be satisfied. No wonder the Buddhist practice of Sokushinbutsu was outlawed.   

Files by Andrew Joseph