This Meditating Mummified Monk Is Only 200 Years Young

According to a Buddhist academic, one monk mummy discovered in Mongolia is 200 years old. However, it may not be dead, but is only in a "very deep meditation".

The preserved body was found sitting in a lotus position, covered in animal hide, last week in the Songinokhairkhan district, close to the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar, according to independent.co.

Investigating the preserved remains of the body, researchers believe that it might be that of a Lama, or a "teacher of Tibetan Buddhism". It seems to be going through a deep spiritual stage, known as "tukdam".

Ganhugiyn Purevbata, founder and professor of the Mongolian Institute of Buddhist Art at Ulaanbaatar Buddhist University said to The Siberian Times: "Lama is sitting in the lotus position vajra, the left hand is opened, and the right hand symbolizes of the preaching Sutra."

"This is a sign that the Lama is not dead, but is in a very deep meditation according to the ancient tradition of Buddhist lamas," notes indiatoday.com.

The Ulaanbataar National Centre of Forensic Expertise has taken the mummy for deeper examination.

The mummified monk had been a teacher of the Buryat Buddhist Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov, who had been born in 1852, but died in 1927 during meditation.

Buddhist monks examined his body in 1955 as well as 1973, yet Itigilov continued to sit in a lotus position, with his body not revealing any signs of decay.

The body was buried again in a coffin that had been stuffed with salt, and then left until 2002, when examiners exhumed and examined it again, 75 years after Itigilov's death.

According to a 2002 report, a dozen witnesses gathered around it.

Vladislav L. Kozeltsev, an expert at the Centre for Biomedical Technologies, said that the body looks as if it may have been preserved, because there was an abnormality in the gene in Itigilov's body, which speeded the decomposition of cells after death.

The corpse may be preserved partly due to the salt, but partly also due to other factors such as the soil and the coffin's condition. "Some secret process of embalming" could be kept in mind, he said.