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Sokushinbutsu - Buddhist ritualistic self-mummification.
For 1,000 days (a little less than three years) the priests would eat a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, while taking part in a regimen of rigorous physical activity that stripped them of their body fat. They then ate only bark and roots for another thousand days and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, normally used to lacquer bowls. This caused vomiting and a rapid loss of bodily fluids, and most importantly, it made the body too poisonous to be eaten by maggots. Finally, a self-mummifying monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would not move from the lotus position. His only connection to the outside world was an air tube and a bell. Each day he rang a bell to let those outside know that he was still alive.
This is not practised anymore. Sounds horrific and beyond painful.
Whether to prevent droughts, or illness among their communities, the monks believed that their deaths would help alleviate the suffering of the populace. It is for this reason a number of the Sokushinbutsu have only one eye—as eye disease was widespread, it was not uncommon for devout monks to remove an eye to help prevent the illness striking others.
There are twenty-eight known Sokushinbutsu in Japan, achieving godhood over a nine century period between the first in 1081 and last in 1903. The majority of the sixteen still viewable are in temples in northern Honshu, Japan’s main island, although not all are Sokushinbutsu. There are also cases of more standard mummification, such as that of Yasuhira Fujiwara in Chusonji Temple, whose head had been decapitated by sword blows prior to death. [Source - very interesting post about it].
This obviously necessitates a firm conviction in your belief about reincarnation. If you read the article linked to above, and some of the posts related to ethics that it links to then you can see that the intention behind this practice is quite noble. We all return to dust, some of us in better spiritual shape than others. Living in preparation for your day of reckoning can focus the mind like nothing else.
Practice heroically.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lugka0QiLp1qktpjio1_500.jpg)
Sokushinbutsu - Buddhist ritualistic self-mummification.
For 1,000 days (a little less than three years) the priests would eat a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, while taking part in a regimen of rigorous physical activity that stripped them of their body fat. They then ate only bark and roots for another thousand days and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, normally used to lacquer bowls. This caused vomiting and a rapid loss of bodily fluids, and most importantly, it made the body too poisonous to be eaten by maggots. Finally, a self-mummifying monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would not move from the lotus position. His only connection to the outside world was an air tube and a bell. Each day he rang a bell to let those outside know that he was still alive.
This is not practised anymore. Sounds horrific and beyond painful.
Whether to prevent droughts, or illness among their communities, the monks believed that their deaths would help alleviate the suffering of the populace. It is for this reason a number of the Sokushinbutsu have only one eye—as eye disease was widespread, it was not uncommon for devout monks to remove an eye to help prevent the illness striking others.
There are twenty-eight known Sokushinbutsu in Japan, achieving godhood over a nine century period between the first in 1081 and last in 1903. The majority of the sixteen still viewable are in temples in northern Honshu, Japan’s main island, although not all are Sokushinbutsu. There are also cases of more standard mummification, such as that of Yasuhira Fujiwara in Chusonji Temple, whose head had been decapitated by sword blows prior to death. [Source - very interesting post about it].
This obviously necessitates a firm conviction in your belief about reincarnation. If you read the article linked to above, and some of the posts related to ethics that it links to then you can see that the intention behind this practice is quite noble. We all return to dust, some of us in better spiritual shape than others. Living in preparation for your day of reckoning can focus the mind like nothing else.
Practice heroically.
(Source: cpelech, via sweettalkinjupiter)
