(ORDO NEWS) — The phenomenon of the preservation of a dead body incorruptible has attracted the attention of researchers for a long time. Scientists are trying to explain such a contradiction to the laws of nature by the physical properties of the environment or the secrets of embalming, but there is still no clear solution to the riddle.
“Sleeping Beauty”
In the burial catacombs of the Sicilian city of Palermo, there is a coffin with a glass lid. Inside is the body of a two-year-old girl, Rosalia Lombardé, who died of influenza in 1920. The child’s father turned to the famous embalming master with a request to save his daughter’s body. He used a complex mixture of various substances and achieved an amazing result. The child still looks not dead, but asleep, for which Rosalia Lombardo was nicknamed “the sleeping beauty.”
At the end of the 20th century, strange events began to take place in the premises of the church.
The parishioners could smell lavender coming from nowhere. And some of them claimed that the eyes of the little deceased were momentarily opened and closed again.
A group of researchers led by Dr. Paulo Cortez decided to check these rumors. A device capable of recording brain impulses was connected to the head of the dead girl. Within a few days, the device recorded two bursts of brain activity: one lasted 33 seconds, the second 12 seconds. That is, the girl came back to life for a while!
This discovery became a worldwide sensation. Today, the burial place of Rosalia Lombardo is a popular pilgrimage site.
The oldest case
In 1971, the Chinese People‘s Liberation Army held a large-scale exercise in Hunan Province. In one of the hills, sappers dug a tunnel and, at a depth of 12 meters, found a tomb with four sarcophagi nested inside one another. Inside was the body of the aristocrat Xin Zhui, who died more than two thousand years ago. The remains floated in a yellowish liquid, which evaporated within a few minutes after opening the sarcophagi.
The woman’s veins retained blood, and her internal organs did not undergo changes. During her lifetime, Xin Zhui suffered from obesity (with a height of 152 centimeters, she weighed 140 kilograms). The woman’s skin was elastic and her joints flexible. Xin Zhui died of a heart attack in 163 BC. No signs of internal embalming of the ancient Chinese aristocrat were found. By the way, her ailment is recognized as the oldest documented case of heart disease.
Under the ice waterfall
In the 9th century, the scholar and poet Kukai founded the Shingon (“True Words”) school in Japan. The new teaching combines elements of Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism and other religions of the East. The main postulate was the assertion that spiritual strength can only be achieved through self-denial and an ascetic lifestyle.
Shingon monks were distinguished by their fortitude – for example, they could sit under an ice waterfall without experiencing the slightest inconvenience. Kukai himself, at the age of 61, entered a state of deep meditation and refused food and water, which led to a voluntary death.
According to the will of the founder of the school, his body was buried on Mount Koya next to the temple he founded. A few years later, the grave was opened and found that Kukai looked like he was fast asleep. His body did not undergo decomposition, and his hair remained silky and shiny.
Now his body rests in a special mausoleum, and Kukai’s admirers believe that he did not die, but is in a state of deep meditation.
Only one pitcher
A similar departure from life was practiced by monks in other Asian countries. In the courtyard of the Vietnamese Dau Monastery, located near Hanoi, there is a figure of a former abbot named Wu Khak Minh, who was born more than three hundred years ago, sitting in a lotus position. According to legend, at the end of his life, he retired in a chapel, taking only one jug of water. He allowed his disciples to come to him only a month after his prayer drum stopped beating. Moreover, if the disciples smell rotting, they should bury Wu Khak Min, and if this does not happen, the body should be exhibited in the monastery.
The drum of Wu Khak Min sounded for 100 days. When the students entered the chapel at the indicated time, there was no smell of decay. The monks covered the abbot’s body with silver paint to protect it from insects and placed it in a special niche.
In the mid-1950s, when Vietnam became an independent state, the mummy was examined using X-rays.
The results were surprising: Min’s body showed no signs of embalming, but his remains, weighing only seven kilograms, did not undergo decomposition. Why this happened is still a mystery.
No research!
In some schools of Buddhism it is believed that a person can achieve the posthumous incorruption of the body through prayer and meditation. As an example, we can cite the story of the death of a Buryat religious figure, head of the Buddhists of Eastern Siberia, Khambo Lama XII Dashi-Dorjo Itigelov.
In 1927, at the age of 75, he sat in the lotus position and asked his disciples to read him a prayer for a passing away – after which he plunged into meditation, during which his heart stopped. In his will, Itigelov indicated that he would not die, but would only leave for a long time. And so that people can make sure that he is alive, the lama asked to examine him after 75 years.
Itigelov’s body was placed in a bukhman (sarcophagus) and covered with salt.
The lamas opened the sarcophagus in 1955 and 1973 – they changed the clothes on the Teacher and made sure that his body did not decompose.
In 2002, according to the will, the buchman was opened in the presence of doctors and forensic experts. ” The commission stated that Itigelov retained all the signs of a living body: his joints were bent, soft tissues were pressed, the organic matter of the skin and nails was the same as in ordinary people.
Followers of Eastern teachings believe that the lama is still alive and meditates, looking for his own path to enlightenment. At present, by the order of the head of the Buddhists of Russia, any medical and biological research on Itigelov’s body is prohibited.
Better not to touch
Extremely interesting imperishable bodies were discovered in 1979 in the Chinese province of Sichuan. Here are the remains of a monastery of the 3rd-7th centuries AD, connected with the underground catacombs of more ancient times. In one of the caves, a group of researchers led by Professor Li Guangzhou found two human figures sitting in the lotus position in the robes of Taoist monks. The bodies showed no signs of decomposition – so much so that at first they were mistaken for wax sculptures. A dog was lying next to them in the same state.
The researchers did not dare to take the bodies out of the cell – but took the pieces of flesh for analysis. At the same time, blood appeared in the places of incisions on the bodies! It turned out that the monks were not dead, but in a state of deep lethargy. The chamber also contained a vessel with the remnants of brown liquid – most likely some kind of elixir, which these people took after having tested it on an animal.
It was decided to try to get the dog out of hibernation. An artificial respiration apparatus and a heart muscle stimulator were connected to it. The dog woke up and opened its eyes – but immediately after that it died, and signs of decomposition quickly appeared on its corpse. After that, the cell with the bodies of the monks was again walled up so as not to harm them.
Failed to prove
Material scientists try to explain the phenomenon of incorruptibility by two main reasons. First, the physical characteristics of the places where the remains were located. For example, in the already mentioned burial catacombs of Palermo, the decomposition process is hampered by the constant temperature and lack of moisture. In addition, the soil is rich in potassium and sodium, which also contributes to the preservation of dead bodies.
The second factor explaining this phenomenon is the lifetime accumulation of preservatives by the body. Oriental monks, striving to ensure that after death their remains do not decompose, for years they introduce plant resins and poisons into their bodies. In monasteries in northern Japan (Yamagata Prefecture), there are currently 28 mummified bodies of those who voluntarily completed their earthly journey in such an unusual way and independently made their remains incorruptible.
Research by Professor Rainer Horne from the German city of Kiel proves that the bodies of our contemporaries decompose much more slowly than a hundred years ago – due to the constant use of food with preservatives, which eventually accumulate in the body.
But such seemingly logical conclusions are called into question by simple statistics. After all, for some reason, in the same burial catacombs of Palermo, where thousands of bodies are buried, only the remains of Rosalia Lombardo and several other people became incorrupt. And the process of self-mummification of Buddhist monks, according to scientists, was successfully completed only in 10% of cases.
In turn, researchers of paranormal phenomena are sure that the phenomenon of imperishable bodies cannot be explained only by physical laws, and it is associated with certain spiritual forces that are capable of influencing biological processes. True, no one has yet succeeded in proving such a statement.
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