Some Buddhists believe that the 200-year old mummified monk that was found in lotus position last week is not dead but is only in a deep meditative trance.
Discovered in the Songinokhairkhan province of Mongolia on Jan. 27, the preserved body of the monk sits in a cross-legged lotus position and is covered in cattle skin. It has also been sent to the National Centre of Forensic Expertise in Ulan Bator to be further examined.
Barry Kerzin, a Buddhist monk and physician to the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama said that the monk is in a rare state of meditation known as "tukdam," which crosses over between life and death.
He explained that once a person manages to remain in this state for over three weeks, a feat that seldom happens, the person's body slowly shrinks. Eventually, all that remain from the person are his nails, hair and clothes. Kerzin added that a person can become a Buddha if he continues to be in this meditative state.
"This is the highest state close to the state of Buddha," Kerzin said. "If the meditator can continue to stay in this meditative state, he can become a Buddha. Reaching such a high spiritual level the meditator will also help others, and all the people around will feel a deep sense of joy."
Mongolian Institute of Buddhist Art founder Gankhüügiin Pürevbat said that the lama's position indicate that he is not dead but in a very deep meditative state based on the ancient tradition of Buddhist lamas.
It is initially speculated that the mummified body belonged to the teacher of Mongol Buddhist monk Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov, who is also known for his mummified body.
In 1927, the then 75 year old Itigilov told his students to visit and look at his body in 30 years before crossing his legs into lotus position and started to mediate. He chanted a prayer for the dead and then died.
After about 30 years, Itigilov's followers did what he requested and exhumed his remains from a Khukhe-Zurkhen cemetery and found the body still in lotus position and intact, afterwhich the body was reburied in a secret and unmarked grave.
Seventy-five years after the monk's death, his body was once again exhumed. Forensic experts, a photographer and other witnesses who were there saw that Itigilov's body remained preserved several decades after his death.
