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| Photo: pinktentacle.com |
Recently I followed the Japanese TV
drama “Aibou” (Partners), a detective drama series on internet. The drama is
quite interesting, like many Japanese detective movies this drama series has a
very complicated plot, so complicated that it is hard to swallow. It seems that
the story writer made it complicated in an attempt to enhance mystery, to make
it harder to guess ‘who done it’. Other than that, the stories sometimes reflect
the unique Japanese culture and tradition, like the sense of perfection,
honesty, pride in profession, honour and sacrifice for the community, which intertwined
with the criminal deed in the drama.
However, as I reached episode 9 and 10 of
Season 11 my jaw dropped watching it, as the underlying tradition of the story
was so peculiar and appalling. I could not imagine how somebody could this mysterious
practice in real life. But knowing that this drama series often include
Japanese tradition in the story, the practice must be a reality, not a fiction.
The crime took place in a remote
mountain area covered with dense forest, a place so serene and peaceful such
that it is hard to imagine a crime could take place here. The crime was
compelled by an 11th century ancient practice called Sokushinbutsu,
an act of self-mummification of a Buddhist monk to be “a Buddha in this very
body”. In Sokushinbutsu practice the monk intentionally died to preserve his
own body to become a mummy, in the quest for nirvana.
I was curious to find-out what drove
this religious tradition, how could it happen this way? So I contacted Haruki,
a Buddhist monk I know, living in the Churenji Temple in Dewa Sanzan, Yamagata
prefecture. I took a 4 hours ride on Shinkansen and express train from Tokyo to
the closest station in Tsuruoka. The travel passed through one of the most serene
places in the country, viewing the country side of Japan, mountains, marked
with temples and shrines hidden in dense forest. After arriving at the Tsuroka I
took a bus to Churenji Temple to meet Haruki, but as the temple is not open for
public that day, we went to a small tea house near there to chat.
I started the chat:
“This serene place in Yamagata prefecture
is said to be one of the most beautiful places to travel in the country. I am fortunate to see the beauty of this place
surrounded by mountains covered with tall cedar trees forming a dense forest, which
made us feel like the trees reaching over us to give us a shelter and
protection from the storms. The towering mountains are regarded as hostile,
dangerous places for human beings to venture, while the forest gives us an
overwhelming peaceful feeling.
So I think, we can understand that in
the remote past the old Shinto (Koshinto) worshipped the nature, known as
animism in the Western world. The beauty and serenity of this place is so
overwhelming that they consider every element of nature as divine. Mountains,
seas and rivers are all divine spirits or god (kami in Japanese), as are the
sun, the moon, and the North Star. The wind and thunder are also kami. In
short, Koshinto holds that nothing in this world or this cosmos is devoid of
divine energy; the kami are present everywhere.
This mount Yudono where the Churenji
Temple is located, is also considered as one of the sacred mountain of the 3
mountains Dewa Sanzan. Can you elaborate about this please.”
Haruki:
“Mountains
have played a prominent role in Japanese religion since ancient times. Tall mountains
were regarded as hostile and dangerous, but they were worshiped as the source
of the life-giving rivers that nourished the farms and villages below. Soaring
into the heavens and often hidden in clouds, such mountains were viewed as heaven
and treated with awe and respect. Without being a Shinto, all human being could
have the same image of the mountains like these.
Mount Yudono is one of the centers of
mountain worship in Dewa Sanzan ("three mountains of Dewa") in
Yamagata Prefecture. The 3 mountains are Haguro-san, Gas-san and Yudono-san;
Haguro-san represents birth, Gas-san represents death and Yudono-san represents
rebirth, the mountains are usually visited in that order.
Dewa Sanzan is a center of Shugendo, a religion
based on mountain worship, blending Buddhist and Shinto traditions. Shugendo
practitioners, perform deeds of sacrifice as a way of transcending the physical
world. Training includes such tasks as long pilgrimages and severe meditations.”
I said:
“So how is this mountain and the worship
became the center of Sokushinbutsu, a practice of self-mummification of a monk?”
Haruki:
“Sokushinbutsu is a severe ascetic
practice of Shugendo, monks tried preserve their own bodies as mummies through
extreme diet and meditation. The monks believed that enlightenment could be
reached in the current world, and they believed that leaving behind a trace of
Buddha in this realm in the form of a Sokushinbutsu, they could provide
salvation to the townspeople even after their death.”
I said:
“How did they do self-mummification?”
Haruki:
“The ritual of self-mummification is
very long and very painful. It is not a simple sacrifice and the monk put an
end to his life following a long process of mortification with a last stage
lasted about 1.000 days. The monk’s diet was limited to only to those that can
be found on the mountain, such as nuts, buds, berries, tree bark and pine
needles. This diet was called
mokujikigyo, which literally means “tree-eating training”. When the monk was
not searching for food he spent his time in meditation on the mountain. This
diet was intended to toughen the spirit and from a biological point of view,
the severe diet intended to remove fat, muscle and moisture. The expected effect
was to avoid decomposition of the body after death. The monk also drank a toxic
tea made from tree bark (toxicodendron verniculum) which was expected to
hastened death and made the body even less hospitable to the bacteria and
parasites that would decompose his body after death. The tree bark contains the same toxic compound
that makes poison ivy so poisonous.
After this, the monk would cut out all
food, drink a limited amount of salinized water for a hundred days. At the
completion this cycle, the monk was considered spiritually ready to enter ‘nyujo’
or meditative stillness. When the monk felt death approaching, his disciples
would lower him into a pine box at the bottom of a pit 3 meters deep with its
walls lined with stone, a tomb just big enough him to sit in the lotus position.
Empty space would be filled with charcoal to remove humidity.
Once the pit was secured shut, two
bamboo tubes would be inserted to funnel down drinking water and act as air
vents. Bells would be attached on both ends of one of the tubes, a device used
by the monk to signal that he was still alive. Once the ringing stopped for
good, the bamboo tubes would be pulled out to seal the pit.
For the next three years and three
months, the corpse would be left in the underground cell. On the final day, the
body would be unearthed. If no decay was found, the body was determined to be a
true Sokushinbutsu and enshrined.”
I said:
“Wasn’t the process considered as a
suicide?”
Haruki:
“Although it resembled as suicide on the
surface, the Buddhist considered it as "abandonment of the body".
Having already extinguished in himself any desire, the monk could in all
clearness pass into nirvana by the process of death. The death was the
sacrifice of himself out of compassion for the benefit all living being, for
instance during an era of serious epidemic. But anyway this practice was
outlawed by the Meiji Restoration, when Shinto was separated from Buddhism and
declared the official religion of Japan”.
I said:
“How did this Sokushinbutsu practice
started?”
Haruki:
“It appeared in China during the 4th
century and in Japan in the beginning of the 9th century. According to Japanese legend, the monk Kukai,
also known as Kobo Daishi after his death, entered in deep meditation, or
‘Samadhi’, at the end of his life till he died, at mount Koya in the south of
Osaka. Monk Kukai was the founder of Shingon, the exoteric school of Buddhism. Some 70 years after his death, another high
level monk went up on imperial order to the top of mount Koya to open the
burial and found the body was intact. Legend has it that Kukai had not died but
entered into an eternal meditation and is still alive on Mount Koya, awaiting
the appearance of Maitreya, the future Buddha.”
I said:
“So where is Kobo Daishi’s body kept? Is
it displayed to the public?”
Haruki:
“The mausoleum of Kobo Daishi is located
in Mt. Koya and is the most sacred place in the mountain. The door of the
mausoleum was not reopened except every fifty years by the Archbishop of mount Koya
to cut the nails and the hair and to change his clothes for him which will then
be used to manufacture amulets for the faithful. Kobo Daishi is known to be in
meditation in his mausoleum but his body is absolutely not displayed or
visible. The body must be considered closer to the relics which represent the
pure "Essence of the Buddhas” who are in reliquaries like the stupa.“
I said:
“But in Churenji temple visitors can see
the body of Tetsumonkai, although taking photograph is not allowed.”
Haruki:
“Yes, the famous body of Tetsumonkai is
displayed in this temple where it sits in its own altar. With his cupped palms
facing upward, he is set up for perpetual meditation, just as he intended as he
was dying nearly two centuries ago. His dead body with a grinning like skull is
clothed in orange robe, purple and saffron scarf and a golden hood, like a
high-ranking monk cloth. It offers a proof of someone who succeeded in his
effort to become a respected mummy.”
I said:
“Who was Tetsumonkai?”
Haruki:
“Tetsumonkai, is the most famous of all
Sokushinbutsu. Born Sunada Tetsu in 1759, he was a river worker who dug wells
and floated lumber, and was known for his stormy temperament. One day,
according to one story, he pierced the leg of an official in charge of river
construction as he was angered by his arrogance. Another story describes him
killing a samurai during a fight over a favorite prostitute. In any case, Tetsu
fled to escape his pursuers and joined the seminary at Churenji in his 20s to a
life of austerity and named as Tetsumonkai.
During his live as a monk, records
indicate that Tetsumonkai was a widely traveled and respected holy man with
numerous legends to his name. Once when he was visiting Edo, he witnessed the
outbreak of an eye disease that caused great suffering. He proceeded to gorge
his left eye out and offered it to the Sumida River in prayer for a cure. Later
research found that his left eye in the mummy is indeed missing, which in a way
confirmed the story.
Tetsumonkai’s missionary work centered
on the Shonai region, but the monuments show it extended from the Kanto region
up through Hokkaido. He is remembered for gathering 10,000 volunteer workers to
build a new road through a mountain connecting Kamo Port to Tsuruoka, to
facilitate trade. He left an enduring impact on many people of that time. Till
now, there are festivals based on Tetsumonkai’s teachings.
However, the most compelling of his
legends may be another one involving self-mutilation. At one point, Tetsumonkai
is said to have been visited by a prostitute, possibly the same one he fought with
the samurai for. The woman tried to convince Tetsumonkai to come back to the
city with her, but he refused. To prove his resolution and dedication to a life
of austerity, he disappeared and shortly returned with a small package for her.
Inside were his bloody testicles. He had sliced them off.
The object is said to have made its way
around prostitutes of the local pleasure quarters as a good luck charm, and was
eventually sent to Nangakuji Temple in Tsuruoka, where it was preserved as a
relic. Adding weight to the legend, the genitals are missing from Tetsumonkai’s
mummified body.
I said:
“ Was the temple really in possession of
Tetsumonkai’s testicles? “
Haruki:
“Yes, but they’re not for public
viewing. Tetsumonkai’s blood group is B, which was also the blood group of the
testicles found in Nangakuji, according to past scientific research. Academics
at the time concluded that it was highly likely that the dried testicles
belonged to a man who endured extreme physical abuse in the name of meditation
training before being entombed at the age of 71.”
I said:
“Are the Sokushinbutsu mummies the same
as the Egyptian mummies?”
Haruki:
“The body of the Pharaohs was embalmed
in ancient Egypt. The internal organs were entirely withdrawn and replaced by
medicinal herbs. The body was thus reduced to nothing an envelope of dried
flesh and bone.
Contrary to the Egyptian mummies, those
of the Sokushinbutsu mummies preserved their internal organs because the
process of mummification began while they were alive and the internal organs
were regarded as centres of vital energy. The bodies of certain mummies of the
Yudono mount, in order to preserve them perfectly, are sometimes also coated
with dried lacquer. So the vitality of the worship implied that the Buddhist
mummies are not simply perceived as "remains", or "empty
shells", they are animated, full with vitality; they exist simultaneously
in this world and in the plenitude of Nirvana.
I said:
“It’s easy to dismiss the Sokushinbutsu
phenomenon as an obscure ritual that died out as the nation marched toward
modernization in the late 19th century. But can you elaborate the meaning of
death in Buddhism?”
Haruki:
“The Sokushinbutsu mummies provide a
fascinating window into the culture of pre-modern Japan through their practice
of passion, hardships, sacrifice and intense religious fervor culminating in
the attainment of Buddha-hood in the flesh. The Western concept of death is an
immediate and severe termination of life, while for Eastern concept death is of
a gradual process.
The Sokushinbutsu worship keeps the
saint alive and offers a unique perspective of humankind struggle in the quest
for Nirvana, before and after the death. “
THE END
This is an imaginary interview about Sokushinbutsu
Reference:
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