Sokushinbutsu

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sokushinbutsu ( Japanese 即 身 仏 ) is a practice of self-mummification that has its roots in the Buddhist school of Shingon-shū and was understood by its followers as a way to find a way into nirvana through extreme pain and self-denial and so on To become part of the Buddha . Self-mummification was mainly practiced in northern Japan around Yamagata Prefecture ; even today mummified priests can be found in some of the monasteries. Sokushinbutsu was banned in the 19th century; In 1903 the last known priest died while practicing the ritual .

Mummified body of the monk Luang Phor Daeng Payasilo in Wat Khunaram near the town of Ban Hua Thanon

method

The process is divided into three sections of 1000 days each. Each passage is marked by mental changes as a result of the hardships and excruciating pain to which the priest is subjected. This practice is not for a mystical experience, but as preparation for nirvana.

The first paragraph

For the first 1000 days, the priest adheres to a special diet that consists only of local nuts and seeds. In this phase he subjects himself to great hardships, e.g. B. the hours of meditation under ice-cold waterfalls. At the end of this section the priest has already lost weight.

The second section

In the second millennium, the priest's food intake is reduced to a small amount of bark and roots of conifers, resulting in extreme emaciation. In addition, this diet greatly contributes to the drainage of the body. At the end of this period, the priest begins to drink a poisonous tea made from the sap of the urushi tree. This juice is usually used to paint bowls, plates, and furniture. The tea causes vomiting, increased urination, and increased perspiration to further drain the body. In addition, this tea is said to make the body too toxic to be eaten by maggots. The ingestion of high arsenic spring water during the entire process may also play a role in successful mummification.

The third section

Finally, for the last 1000 days, the priest is locked in a crypt that is barely larger than his body, in which he has to remain in the lotus position . Its only connection to the outside world is a tube for the air supply and a bell. Every day he rings the bell to let those outside know that he is still alive. As soon as the bell stops ringing, the tube is removed and the crypt is sealed. Then the other priests wait in the temple until the end of the 1000 days; then the tomb is reopened to see if the embalming was successful. If the priest has been successfully mummified, he will be considered a Buddha and will be displayed in the temple for contemplation. It was believed that he had found his way into nirvana.

Usually, however, decomposition has started. Though this priest was not then considered a true Buddha, he too was admired and revered for his devotion and spirit.

Compare with other cultures

It should be avoided to see this approach solely against the background of Western culture. While self-punishment in Christianity ( asceticism , flagellation etc.) is often seen as an attempt to clean up sin, sokushinbutsu is something completely different. Suicide is not condemned in Buddhism as it is in Christianity as long as the motivation is good and not selfish. To understand sokushinbutsu, one must consider the Buddhist view that all life is subject to samsara , the constant cycle of life, death and rebirth. Whoever wants to break out of this cycle must find a way into nirvana . There are many different views on this path, but what they all have in common is that it requires an enormous amount of personal effort.

Scientific research

Research on self-mummification into dry preparations is carried out by scientists mainly in Asia, with a spatial focus on Tibet. Physiologically , there are parallels to torpor , a temporary massive metabolic reduction with which some warm-blooded animals can react to extreme lack of food. Similar techniques are sometimes used post mortem for embalming , freeze-drying during dissection and plastination .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Kleine: Dying for the Buddha, dying like the Buddha. In: s3.amazonaws.com , 2003, accessed on June 6, 2016, p. 11 ff. (PDF file)
  2. ↑ Ferdinand Dupuis-Panther: Braunschweig, Naturhistorisches Museum: Mummies, but no “body worlds” - and that's a good thing. Schwarzaufweiss travel magazine, archived from the original on August 9, 2010 ; Retrieved December 10, 2009 .
  3. ↑ Lisette Gebhardt: "Until I become a mummy": Shimada Masahiko and the tradition of refusal - Japanese texts and stagings against modern society. (PDF; 31 kB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 8, 2014 ; Retrieved December 10, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.peterliechti.ch
  4. ↑ Chris Mathews: Sokushinbutsu: Esoteric Buddhism and the Ethics of Altruistic Suicide. (PDF file) (No longer available online.) In: cjmathews.com. Archived from the original on August 10, 2011 ; Retrieved December 10, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cjmathews.com
  5. ↑ The mummy - the secret of the Tibetan monks. In: spiegel.de. Retrieved December 10, 2009 .
  6. ^ Mummy cult in Tibet - The secret of the monks. (No longer available online.) In: Doku.cc. Archived from the original on December 6, 2009 ; Retrieved December 10, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / doku.cc
  7. ↑ Dead Lama Baffles Science. In: derstandard.at , July 11, 2007, accessed on December 15, 2014

Web links