Sokushinbutsu (即身仏) is a type ofBuddhist mummy. In Japan the term refers to the practice ofBuddhistmonks observingasceticism to the point of death and enteringmummification while alive.[1][2] Although mummified monks are seen in a number of Buddhist countries, especially inSoutheast Asia where monks are mummified after dying of natural causes, it is only in Japan that monks are believed to have induced their own death by starvation.
There is a common suggestion thatShingon school founderKukai brought this practice fromTangChina as part of secrettantric practices he learned.[3] During the 20th century, Japanese scholars found very little evidence of self-starvation ofsokushinbutsu. They rather concluded that mummification took place after the demise of the monk practising this kind of asceticism, as seen in Southeast Asian lands.[2]
There is at least one "self-mummified" 550-year-old corpse in existence: that of a Buddhist monk namedSangha Tenzin in a northern Himalayan region of India, visible in a temple in Gue village,Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.[4] This mummy was rediscovered in 1975 when the oldstupa preserving it collapsed and it is estimated to be from about the 14th century. The monk was likely a Tibetandzogpa-chenpo practitioner and similar mummies have been found inTibet and East Asia.[5] The preservation of the mummy for at least five centuries was possible due to the aridity of the area and cold weather.[4]
According to Paul Williams, thesokushinbutsu ascetic practices ofShugendō were likely inspired byKūkai, the founder ofShingon Buddhism,[6] who ended his life by reducing and then stopping intake of food and water, while continuing to meditate and chant Buddhist mantras. Ascetic self-mummification practices are also recorded in China and associated with theChan tradition there.[6] Alternate ascetic practices similar tosokushinbutsu are also known, such as publicself-immolation practice in China. This was considered as evidence of a renunciantbodhisattva.[7]
A mountain-dwelling religion calledShugendō emerged in Japan as a syncretism betweenVajrayana Buddhism,Shinto andTaoism in the 7th century, which stressed ascetic practices.[8] One of these practices wassokushinbutsu (orsokushin jobutsu), connoting mountain austerities in order to attainEnlightenment in a single lifetime. This practice was perfected over a period of time, particularly in theThree Mountains of Dewa region of Japan, that is theHaguro,Gassan andYudono mountains.[8] These mountains remain sacred in the Shugendō tradition to this day, and ascetic austerities continue to be performed in the valleys and mountain range in this area.[8][9]
In medieval Japan, this tradition developed a process forsokushinbutsu, which a monk completed over about 3,000 days.[8] It involved a strict diet calledmokujiki (literally,'eating a tree').[10][9] The monk abstained from any cereals and relied on pine needles, resins, and seeds found in the mountains, which would eliminate all fat in the body.[10][4] Increasing rates of fasting and meditation would lead to starvation. The monks would slowly reduce then stop liquid intake, thus dehydrating the body and shrinking all organs.[10] The monks would die in a state ofjhana (meditation) while chanting thenenbutsu (a recitation of the Buddha Amitabha's Name inRemembrance of him), and their body would become naturally preserved as a mummy with skin and teeth intact without decay and without the need of any artificial preservatives.[10][4] Many Buddhistsokushinbutsu mummies have been found in northern Japan and are estimated to be centuries old, while texts suggest that hundreds of these cases are buried in thestupas and mountains of Japan.[9] These mummies have been revered and venerated by the laypeople of Buddhism.[9]
One of the altars in the Honmyō-ji temple ofYamagata Prefecture continues to preserve one of the oldest mummies—that of thesokushinbutsu ascetic named Honmyōkai.[11] This process of self-mummification was mainly practiced in Yamagata in Northern Japan between the 11th and 19th century, by members of the JapaneseVajrayana school of Buddhism calledShingon ("True Word"). The practitioners ofsokushinbutsu did not view this practice as an act ofsuicide, but rather as a form of furtherenlightenment.[12]
Emperor Meiji banned this practice in 1879. Assisted suicide—including religious suicide—is now illegal.
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