Buddhist mummies
 

One of the worst ways to go would be buried live. Some Buddhist monks welcomed it as a final means of gaining total victory over the flesh.

Who are the Sokushinbutsu, you ask? The Japanese Buddhist monks who mummified themselves while still alive. The bodies that have been found by archeologists date to between the 12th and 20th centuries AD. But apparently, the process is much older. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about mummifying yourself while still alive, as the Japanese Buddhist monks did.

self-mummification was originally a Taoist practice, and notes that, while the Japanese monks are the most famous self-mummifiers, cases of deliberate self-mummifcation have been recorded in China and India as well."

There’s a lot of talk about the “spiritual goal” as far as the Sokushinbutsu are concerned. "Where sokushinbutsu was concerned, a successful act of self-mummification meant the successful execution of a final spiritual practice,” according to Davis. "If, after an attempt at self-mummification, the attempted practitioner was found decayed, it was taken as a sign that the spiritual goal had not been achieved."

The process of self-mummifcation wasn’t seen as suicide by the Taoists who practiced it, but more a path toward immortality. The Sokushinbutsu, in a similar way, thought of the process as a way to transcend death

They would remain in their mummified state, which was viewed as a death-trance, for 5.67 billion years until they would be called upon to assist Maitreya for the benefit of all humankind,” Davis reports.

So, apparently, you don’t just wake up one day and decide you want to mummify yourself. Sorry for those of you at home with hopes of trying. There’s actually a 3,000-day training process of sorts.
The key element of the process is dietary,” Davis reports. "Japanese ascetics would commonly abstain from cereals, removing wheat, rice, foxtail millet, pros so millet, and soybeans. Instead, they would eat things like nuts, berries, pine needles, tree bark, and resin (which is why the diet of the sokushinbutsu was called mokujikyo, or 'tree-eating.'"

Then, you’re essentially buried alive up to your neck with a little space left for you to breathe, and you kind of just.. wait to die. "Once the ascetic was prepared to attempt to become a sokushinbutsu, it's said he would step into a tiny burial chamber and has himself buried alive, with a small opening to allow air inside the chamber,” Davis writes. "There he would sit, chanting sutra and ringing a bell to signal that he was still alive."
How Japanese Buddhist Monks Mummified Themselves While Alive

Does anyone feel inspired by this epic display of self-discipline? I confess that I found inspiration from it.

Not Buddhist-like, I'm afraid..A sad event.

Namaste.

' Does anyone feel inspired by this epic display of self-discipline? '

No I am not inspired at all, it seems a pointless act.

Afraid not. There's a lot to be said for breathing.

Ditto that, Shaunc et. al.

https://www.self.com/story/how-not-t... MDczMTgwOAS2

As I understand it the practice has been made illegal.
That said I guess it has some appeal to some, The dietary along with the rigorous training are will reduce your body fat to almost nothing.

The pine needles will make your bodily fluids less appetizing for a lot of the bugs that would normally consume them. That helps a natural mummification.

I would not want to undertake such a practice, Personally I feel it's missing the point. That said as for a training in letting go I guess it's as good as any.. Maybe even better as it requires a lot of letting go.

The buddha however did place some restrictions on self mortification And I guess this practice would bend a few of those rules..

With Love
Eelco

Hi Folks..

Hmm - I don't take "inspiration" from the act itself - but I do kind of admire their Will(power) that enabled them to actually go through with it...Indominable Spirit they must have had - and that is indeed inspiritational - but once found within, I fuly believe that Spirit should be put to use for the greater good of All around (that is what it bids) - not kept to the Self as some kind of prize or trophy......

Actually, this reminds me very much of my nephew Steve - didn't "mummify" himself of course - but did commit suicide with the sole intention of progressing the spiritual journey Home and severing all connection to this low mortal world to allow that to happen.. His - and these monks above - seem to me to be a purely selfish act though - and Im sure that is not a directive of Spirit - attain that high wisdom and SHARE that high wisdom - don't leave the rest here in confused ignorance...

I can remember thinking to myself how strong a persons beliefs must be to strap a bomb to themselves and then to blow themselves up in what we all see as an act of terror.
I can also recall being so drawn into Christianity that I placed my family second to it.
The mind and the will can be so powerful and I see this act spoken of in this thread falling into the same energy.
Look at what Hitler did and what his followers did. Unspeakable things and yet not to those who did it.
Inspired by what these monks did....no. Inspired by the power of the mind and will and intentions.....yes.

I would like to add that this has nothing to do with what the Buddha taught.

Even with regards to "attachment" and "letting go", Buddhism is teaching to let go of SUFFERING, to let go of attachment to suffering - NOT letting go of life.

When one has found and affirmed the life that has let go of suffering, life is blissful and joyful, compassionate and affirming.

What is referred to in OP has nothing to do with Buddha's teachings, proclamations or intentions.

Thank you for reading.

BT

Hey St. M

In the Buddhist teaching there is a principle of a 'middle way' which basically means balanced - not to much and not too little - 'the Goldilocks principle', so to speak. Hence, Gotama the Buddha wouldn't advocate these sorts of rituals - because it's extreme and not a 'middle way'. But when Gotama died and the teachings spread throughout Asia, the old traditions of the various cultures intermingled with the Buddhist teaching. Hence, we have this peculiar and extreme taoistic style of practice being presented as 'Buddhist' because Buddhist monks practice it. It does contradict the teachings of Gotama the Buddha, though.

Then it comes down to which kind of Buddhism is the 'real Buddhism'? But the strict adherence to 'what Buddha said' is also an extreme form of dogma, so by and large, we are left alone to discern for ourselves where that 'middle ground' lies.