CT Scans Reveal Preserved Body Inside Ancient Buddhist Statue
A nearly 1,000-year-old statue has left China for the first time and the Meander Medical Center in the Netherlands thought they'd run it through a CT scanner. They confirmed that the statue holds the mummified remains of a man, while also finding some intriguing insights into the mummification process.
photo credit: M. Elsevier Stokmans/German-Mummy-Project Mannheim. CT scans reveal this statue contains a mummy.
The experts believe that it was Gautama Buddha or the mummy is of Gautama Buddha but it lacks the Distinctive features that artists used to identify Gautama Buddha. Researchers believe that body is of Buddhist Master Liuquan, a practitioner of the Chinese Meditation School who lived around 1100 AD.
Credit: Jan van Esch/Meander Medical Center. Not the ideal posture for CT scans.
Besides the use of a Scanner, the Hospital also had a gastrointestinal specialist Dr. Raynald Vermeijden take samples of material from the thoracic and abdominal cavities.
Samples In places where organs once were, the team found paper scraps printed with yet to be deciphered ancient Chinese characters. It is unclear what role the paper played in the mummification process.
Credit: Jan van Esch/Meander Medical Center. No need to look so anxious - he's been dead for 1,000 years
There is speculation that Liuquan engaged in the practice of self-mummification, a gruesome process where monks from certain traditions prepare themselves to not decay after death through a combination of diet and consumption of poisonous herbs and embalming fluid. This has yet to be confirmed,
The statue was studied after being displayed at the Drents Museum as part of an exhibition of Mummies revealing the similarities and differences in mummification processes from around the world. It is currently on display at the Hungarian Natural History Museum. Not only is this the first time this particular statue has left China, but it is also the only Chinese Buddhist mummy available for scientific research in the West.
Reference:- Story of Stephen Luntz.
Blog by:- Hassan Ali.
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