To recap, a very well preserved mummified Buddhist monk was discovered in Mongolia last week. The body is seated in the lotus position (a position that assists in entering an intentional meditative state) and the monk appears to have died while in this position. The body (the exact age of which isn't certain) was recovered by police just before it was about to be sold on the black market.
What's extraordinary about this story is not that a mummified body was found in a cold, dry climate (which preserves body tissues quite well), but that an expert, Dr. Barry Kerzin (a Buddhist monk and physician to the Dalai Lama) has gone on record to say it's possible the monk may not be dead at all. He may, according to Dr. Kerzin, be in a rare meditative state called "tukdam."
Dr. Kerzin apparently told the Siberian Times this:
'If the person is able to remain in this state for more than three weeks - which rarely happens - his body gradually shrinks, and in the end all that remains from the person is his hair, nails, and clothes. Usually in this case, people who live next to the monk see a rainbow that glows in the sky for several days. This means that he has found a 'rainbow body'. This is the highest state close to the state of Buddha'.
He added: 'If the meditator can continue to stay in this meditative state, he can become a Buddha. Reaching such a high spiritual level the meditator will also help others, and all the people around will feel a deep sense of joy'.The Siberian Times article also reports that "over the last 50 years there are said to have been 40 such cases in India involving meditating Tibetan monks.
You can read about a recent example of this on the website of the Benchen Monastery Community. There, they offer notice of the death of Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche, who "chose to end the state of Tukdam, which is the deep meditative composure that some realized masters enter into after the demise of their physical bodies, after three and half days." The notice also describes the unusual weather conditions that took place on the day of Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche's 2012 death. The unseasonal thunderstorms, followed by rainbows, were not thought to be coincidental or irrelevant, the notice strongly implies.
The point I want to make is this: Although you might like to believe that Buddhism isn't a religion, but is instead an atheistic, secular, humanist spiritual practice, it is not.
Buddhism is, and always has been, a religion. This is especially obvious in Mahayana Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism (of which the Dalai Lama's school of Tibetan Buddhism is a part).
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| Buddha, Royal Ontario Museum. Photo credit JAT 2017. |
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| ROM text accompanying the Buddha sculpture. |
I have to smile at the similarity between the description of Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche's death and the description of Jesus' death (the whole 3-day-thing plus multiple signs and wonders). But the similarities don't surprise me. I've seen many signs and wonders, and I know they happen all the time. They happen to all of us -- far more often than most people realize.
No one religious group has a right to claim a monopoly on signs and wonders -- neither Christianity nor Buddhism nor any other group. Everyone who lives on Planet Earth is part of the same Creation. There isn't one Creation for Christians and a different Creation for Buddhists. We all come from the same place (God's Heart). We all live under the same roof here on Planet Earth. We all live by the same "house rules" while we're here (which is why the need for morality is universal). And we all return to the same place when we die (claims for apotheosis notwithstanding).
Do I think the mummified monk is still alive and in a deep state of tukdam? No, I do not. I think the poor man is dead. I think he's been dead for a long, long time, and I think we should trust that and let him be instead of trying to force the mantle of Buddhahood onto his very shrivelled shoulders. (Did you check out the photo on the BBC?)
Do I think it's possible his physical body -- what remained after his soul and his biology parted ways -- has been miraculously preserved?
I think it's theoretically possible. I really do. I've seen much stranger things than abnormally extended tissue preservation. (And tissue preservation is, after all, simply a matter of knowing your chemistry, physics, and biology really, really well -- a particular talent of God.)
The real question is this: what does this news story tell you about you? What does this story make you think about? Do you want to laugh with contempt and call it all a hoax? Or do you have a small itchy sense of curiosity in the very back of your head?
If you're just a little bit curious, it's a good sign.
P.S. Thank you to the persons-of-soul who made this discussion possible. Without you, we couldn't do this! Amen.
Postscript February 26, 2015: Please see "Eerie remains of 1,000-year-old mummified monk inside Buddhist statue unveiled by CAT scan," which was posted this week on Canada's National Post news site. Please see also another helpful story story posted this week by the BBC about the elaborate and beautiful Ajanta caves built for the Buddhist community of India’s Maharashtra state until the complex was abandoned in the early 6th century CE. Again, my point is that Buddhism is a religion, not just a simple philosophy or way of life that anyone can -- and should -- incorporate into their spiritual journey. It's up to you to decide whether the religious doctrines of Buddhism are right for you. But please don't pretend there are no doctrines!
