AMERSFOORT, NETHERLANDS—CT scans and endoscopy of a 1,000-year-old Buddha statue from China have revealed a mummified body thought to belong to the Buddhist master Liuquan of the Chinese Meditation School. The statue, housed at the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, was examined at the Meander Medical Center. Discovery News reports that the body’s organs had been removed from the abdominal cavity and replaced with an unidentified material and paper printed with Chinese characters. Researchers at the Drents Museum speculate that the statue may represent a rare case of "self-mummification," in which monks would follow a special diet that turned them into "living skeletons" and would then be placed into tombs only slightly larger than themselves where they would eventually die. To read about tattoos on a more ancient mummy from China, see "Tarim Basin Mummy."
Skeletal Remains Found in Buddha Statue
News February 23, 2015
Recommended Articles
Features November/December 2024
The Many Faces of the Kingdom of Shu
Thousands of fantastical bronzes are beginning to reveal the secrets of a legendary Chinese dynasty
Digs & Discoveries May/June 2024
Hunting Heads
Features November/December 2023
China's River of Gold
Excavations in Sichuan Province reveal the lost treasure of an infamous seventeenth-century warlord
-
Features January/February 2015
Shipwreck Alley
From wood to steel, from sail to steam, from early pioneers to established industry, the history of the Great Lakes can be found deep beneath Thunder Bay
(Courtesy Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary/NOAA) -
Letter From Cambodia January/February 2015
Storied Landscape
Through centuries—and perhaps even millennia—of cultural, political, and environmental change, Phnom Kulen has retained its central role in the spiritual life of a people
-
Artifacts January/February 2015
Bronze Age Dagger
(Courtesy Anders Rosendahl) -
Digs & Discoveries January/February 2015
The Price of Plunder