Scan Reveals Bhudda Statue Has Mummy Inside

Not sure if this is the right forum but here goes. A scan of a Buddhist statue on exhibit in a museum in a museum in the Netherlands shows that the mummified remains of a monk are inside.

This is no ordinary Buddha statue. As the CT scan at the right clearly shows, there's a mummy concealed inside!

This fascinating artifact is currently on display as part of a mummy-themed exhibit at the Netherlands' Drents Museum (link also offers a glimpse of a particularly rad cat mummy). It's the first time the "Buddha mummy" has been shown outside of China; according to the museum, the statue contains the remains of a monk who lived "around the year 1100" and are possibly an example of self-mummification.

This is cool but also a little creepy. I thought ATS would enjoy it.........So, what does ATS think?

io9.com...

If that was a form of self mummifacation then the worshipers went all out to keep that body preserved. Good find!

This is amazing, I wonder if they knew the mummy was in there before hand or found out only after the scan?

I suppose someone overlaid it with a special clay. It could have been an old mummy in that position. It would take high heat to set the clay unless there was a catalyst.

One source I read said that, prior to this test, they knew there were human remains in the reliquary, but what did surprise them was that the organs had been removed and replaced with scraps of paper (With Chinese characters).

Of course, this then begs the question of those that maintain that some of these monks are still in meditation. If this one can do that with scraps of paper instead of a liver...he has this meditation thing nailed!

Looking at the "scan" image in the link provided by OP i see a full brain and organs intact? Aren't they removed to prevent decay or shriveled as they dry out over time?

Self mummificaton

possibly an example of self-mummification

Does this have any implications for the budhist belief system I wonder.
Strange discovery.

The message Is abouT The orIgIn of whaT The sTaTue Is made of.

This is Lara Croft material

Just look at that x ray.. I mean. Damn, she would have a field day!

a reply to: RP2SticksOfDynamite

Well this mummy apparently was a living person hundreds of years after Siddhārtha Gautama was doing his Buddha thing. So the implication wouldn't be this mummy being The Buddha.

of course The claIm Is quesTIonable beIng ThaT medITaTIon Is a form of sorcery.

a reply to: BUCKSFiZZ

and yoga is satanic too, right?

wHy aRE YoU typING like ThiS?

a reply to: Lucid Lunacy

ITs more like ThIs acTually If you read IT carefully you wIll noTIce whaT, IT Is ThaT Is beIng done To make his posTs look off The wall. /headfuk

a reply to: rickymouse

But wouldn't it only take high heat if you wanted it to cure quickly, i.e. in a couple hours? I think a longer and cooler heat might have been used as to not destroy the body tissue, say 1-200 degrees over a number of hours or days, vs the 600-1000+ degrees you would need for a conventional (modern) blast furnace or kiln. But maybe I'm wrong.

originally posted by: BUCKSFiZZ
of course The claIm Is quesTIonable beIng ThaT medITaTIon Is a form of sorcery.

I as well can't get past/understand the capital T's and I's. I don't even know why even care but can you shed light on it none the less?



Also have the papers been translated?

a reply to: birhan

I beleive its known as a Tactic Insertion (of: asbolute nonsense, nuisance, or abuse) aka PSYOPs

originally posted by: rickymouse
I suppose someone overlaid it with a special clay. It could have been an old mummy in that position. It would take high heat to set the clay unless there was a catalyst.

I've read that the process of preserving them in Tibet, takes several weeks, and involves packing the body in position, in a room that is filled with some kind of material....maybe clay...that absorbs moisture and preserves it with little distortion. A fire is burned in the room directly below, making the whole thing like an over or smoker. It also helps that it is typically very cold and very dry at 14,000 feet. They don't bury bodies there, because they wouldn't decompose. Most bodies are just taken apart and processed and fed to animals. But, high monks are preserved for veneration. They do the ancestor thing....and believe in reincarnation, so they are venerating their own essences/souls/whatever, in the process.

originally posted by: looneylupinsrevenge
a reply to: rickymouse

But wouldn't it only take high heat if you wanted it to cure quickly, i.e. in a couple hours? I think a longer and cooler heat might have been used as to not destroy the body tissue, say 1-200 degrees over a number of hours or days, vs the 600-1000+ degrees you would need for a conventional (modern) blast furnace or kiln. But maybe I'm wrong.

Plaster of paris causes heat to be created, maybe mixing it with clay and still having a milder heat may have done the trick. They have used plaster of paris for thousands of years. The people back then were not dumb, they knew a lot of stuff. They may not have had the means to test exactly how things worked, they just discovered things and passed on the knowledge by training the young a trade. Stuff was also passed on orally, in songs sometimes or in writings or drawings that only those in the field could understand.

Once a chemical reaction is completed, it changes the structure of the material and sometimes analyzing it cannot show how the material was made. I think they purified urine for use in a lot of things, it was easy to come by.

a reply to: Enderdog

I wonder if they made burial artifacts out of the bones there. That was done sporadically all over the world long ago. You could make the cement of the headstone from the crushed bones of the deceased. They also made urns and all sort of stuff out of the ingredients in human bone. This way you could have your loved one made into a rock which was laid into your house construction.

Someone who knows masonry knows this is possible, you can add things to concrete and to bricks to make things. In brickmaking, the organics of the bones would burn off leaving a porous brick. The ritual of mummification was not used widely but that does not mean other systems weren't used. Animal bones could also be used to make concrete.