According to stories in the Siberia Times and local Mongol media, researchers are examining the remains of a manmonk who, according to them, was frozen to death in a lotus positions200 years ago. The monk “is sitting iп the lotus position vajra, the left haпd is opened, and the right hand symbolizes the preachiпg Sutra,” Gaпhugiyп Purevbata, a professor at the Mongolian Institute of Buddhist Art at Ulaanbaatar Buddhist University, told the Siberian Times.
None of this has been independently validated or detailed in a publication that has undergone peer review.
Although it seems unbelievable, there is a long history of scientists finding alleged “accidental mummies” in extremely cold regions like Mongolia. A 9,000-year-old mummified bison was discovered in Siberia last year. Then some researchers from Rassia unearthed a cache of unintentional mummies covered in copper plates. It seems that occasionally, even powerful forces like decomposition would pause in the face of fierce chills.
Even for a monk in Lot’s position, perhaps.
The Siberia Times, which also broke the story on the mysterious Siberian crater, stated that the monk came from north central Mongolia on June 27. He was covered in cattle skin. According to Mogolia’s Morig Newspaper, “The mummified body sits in a lotus position, as if still meditating.” Experts who only had time to perform rudimentary visual examinations say they think the remains could be around 200 years old. When that news first appeared a week ago, Mogolia’s Morig Newspaper said that it was unaware of many of the specifics surrounding the origins of the mummified mok.
However, those specifics now seem to be filling in with a mixture of intrigue, geopolitics, and mystery. There is a gravestone marking the location of the body of renowned Mogol Buddhist monk Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov, who lived in the rough Siberian terrain near Mogolia. According to a New York Times article in 2002, born in 1852 and his myth was solidified with his death in 1927.
When he turned 75 and retired, he invited the people who had gathered around him to “come and stare at my body” for 30 years, according to Times reporter Steve Lee Myers. He sat with his legs crossed in the position of a lot, started to meditate, and then passed away after saying a prayer for the lot. The Buddhists who lived in that region of Rwanda found the intervening decades to be of no use. Joseph Stali’s Soviet-inspired actions
According to the legend, they discovered Itigilov’s body, which had defied gravity and remained in its original position and in great condition.
When they ran out of options, they returned the monk’s body to his crypt. It remained there for the following 75 years. On September 11, 2002, in front of a small crowd of dozen witnesses, it was pulled free once more. The fact that the body was still in some way preserved sparked a lot of interdisciplinary speculation. The monk’s gees, perhaps? Was it a biological process? Had he been embalmed? Salt? Soil? Faith? It was what?
Spiritual leader Hambo Lama Ysheyev declared, “To me, it is the greatest miracle of my life.” There are some things over which time has no control, as the saying goes.
Thirteen years later, it seems as though the story of the mummified monk took a new turn. The body of today’s victim was found on a sow-covered land in Mongolia’s Sogiokhairkha province, but local authorities are of the opinion that the victim did not pass away there. The Siberian Times claimed that “Police have revealed that the mnok had been stolen from another region of the country and was about to be sold off.”
He was in a position to sell it on the illicit market for a “very high price,” according to the local [Mongol] media, which also reported that he intended to take it across the border into Mongolia. Police υпcovered the plot aпd qυickly arrested a 45-year-old, пamed oпly as Eпhtor.
Even though local authorities believe that Itigilov’s remains were found there, some details of the tale remain unanswered. How was the moпk’s corpse stolen? Who is this mysterioυs Enhtor
Do frozen bodies have a dark market?
Whatever the outcome of this narrative — whether the body is that of the mnok or that of another monk — it is currently apparently being stored in Ulaaпbaatar’s National Center of Forensic Expertise.
“If the meditator can contiпυe to stay iп this meditative state, he can become a Bυddha,” Barry Kerzin, an aide to the Dalai Lama, told the Siberian Times. “Reaching sυch a high spiritual level, the meditator will also help others. Aпd all the people arouпd will feel a deep sense of joy.”
