Sokushinbutsu - living self mummification

[Nungali]

 

 

A monk who chose to perform self-mummification, or sokushinbutsu, began by abstaining from grains and cereals, eating only fruits and nuts for one thousand days. He spent this nearly three years meditating and continuing to perform service to the temple and community. Then for the next thousand days the monk ate only pine needles and bark. By the end of the two thousand days of fasting, the monk’s body had wasted away through starvation and dehydration. While this satisfied the requirement for suffering, it also started the process of mummification by removing excess fat and water, which would otherwise attract bacteria and insects after death. Some of the monks drank tea made from the bark of the urushi tree during their fast. Also known as the Japanese Varnish Tree, its sap is normally used to make a lacquer varnish, and it contains the same abrasive chemical that makes poison ivy so unpleasant. Urushi is so toxic that even its vapor can cause a rash, and it remains in the body after death. Drinking urushi tea served to hasten the monk towards death as well as make his body even less hospitable to insects.

 

Finally, the monk would enter a cramped, specially built tomb and sit in meditation as his acolytes sealed him in, leaving a small tube to allow air to enter. He spent his last days in sitting in meditation, ringing a bell occasionally to signal to those outside that he was still alive. When the bell stopped, the acolytes removed the breathing tube and sealed the tomb completely. After a thousand days, his followers opened the tomb and examined the body. If there was no sign of decay, the monk had achieved sokushinbutsu and was placed in a temple and worshipped as a Living Buddha. If not, he was reburied with great honor for the attempt.

 

http://www.damninteresting.com/sokushinbutsu-the-ancient-buddhist-mummies-of-japan/

[bax44]

why?  

[Nungali]

Ask a Buddhist    

[Chang]

I do not doubt that the sect who performed this ritual could have defended their reasoning for such an act.

 

It must however rank as the ultimate in self abuse and the practice of the deranged and deluded.

 

'And what is good, Phaedrus,And what is not good—Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?'

[Apech]

I want my mummy

[Nungali]

Humans everywhere do bizzare stuff ...  but the Japanese do seem to have a 'particular'  skill at their special versions of it  . 

 

 

 

 

     

[Bindi]

I do admire anyone that shows that much determination though. My subconscious must have been impressed with their determination as well, because I was telling a couple of friends about it in a dream. 

[Nungali]

Bindi San, please excuse   dishonourable post that may have affected  subconscious joran  

 

please accept formal Japanese man 'extreme apology'  to woman ;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thelerner]

The act is extreme and the audience is so built in that it feels like there's a bit of ego in it.  It's not just killing yourself through extreme asceticism, it's making sure there's a group of disciples to see it. 

 

I admire hermits, even the Marathon Monks of Mt. Hieie who have died doing there extreme practices, but even then going through a 9 day death fast of no food, water or sleep the aim is life and enlightenment, it just happens to be so extreme it sometimes kills practitioners. 

[Bindi]

Bindi San, please excuse   dishonourable post that may have affected  subconscious joran  

 

please accept formal Japanese man 'extreme apology'  to woman ;

 

 

No need to extreme grovel on my behalf Nungali san, but out of compassion for you I order you into the dog house for a week, to sleep on pine needles and bark occasionally to signal that you are still alive.

[Nungali]

Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita

 

[Bindi]

dou itashimashite wan wan

[3bob]

this is a no no according to the historic Buddha x1000 x1000 etc..

[Seeker of Wisdom]

This is a no-no to anyone who isn't nuts.

[thelerner]

On the third hand..

Our society has a taboo against suicide, others don't.  Once you've decided enough is enough, you've reached the end, it might not be quite so crazy to seek a 'holy' ending to ones life.  To use ones death to delve deeply into ultimate void and show others what true selfless devotion is. 

 

They may well die in deepest peace or even ecstasy, will we be as lucky??

Edited February 24, 2016 by thelerner

[Nungali]

I might be .... I have a life of peace and ecstasy .... dont see why my death would be so radically different . 

 

( Well , aside from the physical pain ) 

[Oneironaut]

Reminds me of the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức

 

WARNING: Very violent and extremely disturbing video. DO NOT watch if you are easily offended.

 

 

I have infinite respect for that mans willpower and determination. The common westerner, while deeply disturbed at such images, also harbors endless jealousy, sweeps the cultivation practice under the rug and credits drugs (even with the lack of evidence) as to how that man was able to endure that unimaginable hell peacefully.

 

I wonder how these guys "tough out" the sheer cruelty of experience. I wanna be a bad ass too.

 

Some samurai in ancient Japan engaged in a torturous practice called misogi-kyo where they would go under freezing waterfalls in the morning and bathe there. By concentrating on the lower point, the hara (the lower dantien), and once the right concentration was reached these guys felt no ounce of pain and so were able to endure very harsh conditions with ease.

 

Does anyone have any idea as to how these guys (especially the Vietnamese monk) manage to do this?

Edited February 26, 2016 by Oneironaut

[Nungali]

I seem to remember a doco recently where they froze these guys in a room , one  'cold resistor' and two normals.  They did all sorts of tests with infra red photography etc. 

 

One thing immediately noticed was , on emergence from chamber, 'cold resistor guy' was bright red ... the others nearly blue 

 

 

... half a mo' ... 

 

This isnt the doco I saw, but I am pretty sure this is the dude ... no, he isnt 'mystical'  ( "no hocus-pocus "     ) he just concentrates on this ability ;

 

 

[Nungali]

[Nungali]

 

 

... and so on 

[Nungali]

Doh !    

 

Thread about Wim   here already . 

[thelerner]

Some samurai in ancient Japan engaged in a torturous practice called misogi-kyo where they would go under freezing waterfalls in the morning and bathe there. By concentrating on the lower point, the hara (the lower dantien), and once the right concentration was reached these guys felt no ounce of pain and so were able to endure very harsh conditions with ease.

Ancient Japanese.. such training goes on, even in the states.   The St. Louis Ki Society had special winter training that was misogi.  After 2 days of martial arts, hands to hand, weapon and meditation including ye olde time Shinto chanting with iron bells they head for a running river (first weekend in January) go in, do ki-aia's, dunk a few few times, more ki-aia's. 

The first year I joined in, it was extremely cold, there was ice on parts of the river and a long walk back to the Inn.  We were told the only way to get through it was to give the chanting meditation everything we had, leave no energy behind.   Good advice, worked pretty well. 

 

Not quite meditating long term under a waterfall, but its getting to first base.  Wim Hof retreats get pretty misogi-ish, haven't been on one of those, but I did Polar Plunge in 33 F Lake Michigan last month and in the final weeks of Wim Hof method you meditate a bit outside and jog around barefoot in the snow. 

 

So, some of that spirit is still out there.