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Scientists Shocked after CT Scan Reveals Mummified Monk Hidden Inside an Ancient Buddha Statue!

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After nearly 11 to 12 centuries, the Meander Medical Centre first-handedly unveiled a mummified ancient Chinese Buddhist monk inside a statue after a CT scan was carried out upon the request of the Drents museum in the Netherlands. Experts believed that the discovered remains might have been able to attain the highest form of meditation as it was able to preserve its lotus position. Furthermore, Buddhism states that mummified holy figures are a vital spiritual force whereas the preserved bodies are not really dead but living gods.

Although scientists are already aware of the mummy inside, the CT scan gave them an up-close interaction at the skeleton of which lead to the identification of the body. Also with the help of hidden paper scrolls with Chinese characters, the monk was identified as Liuquan, an ancient Buddhist master from the Chinese Meditation School.

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Photo credit: M. Elsevier Stokmans; Boeddhamummie (Drents Museum)

It is remembered that a mummified monk in Mongolia was previously exposed in the Central Asian country’s capital of Ulan Bator after being stolen from its provincial resting place on the purpose of exchanging it for a certain price.

Buddhist mummification was much more prominent in Japan which requires a strict discipline of diet and practice before being buried alive in a pine-wood box full of salt. Meanwhile, Buddhist monks who died of natural causes customary left mummification instructions to be implemented after they pass away. The statue will be on display at the Hungarian Natural History Museum until May, 2015.

Researchers knew there were remains inside the statue.

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Photo credit: MMC / Jan van Esch
CT scan revealed that all of the monk’s organs had been removed.

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Photo credit: MMC / Jan van Esch
Buddhists claimed these mummies “aren’t dead” but are in an advanced state of meditation.

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Photo credit: MMC / Jan van Esch

H/T: Bored Panda

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