Mummified Monk Found Inside 1,000-year-old Buddha Statue

Scientists and hospital staff at the Meander Medical Center in the Netherlands used a CT scanner to reveal the mummified body of a Chinese monk inside a statue of Buddha dating back to between 1050 and 1150 A.D. The monk had evidently practiced the ancient tradition of self-mummification, in which Buddhist ascetics would starve themselves for a decade and essentially meditate themselves to death. They would go on to be revered as “living Buddhas.“