Posted on 05/05/2016 11:19:11 AM PDT by nickcarraway
In the southeastern Chinese city of Quanzhou, a well-known Buddhist monk named Fu Hou has been mummified and encased in gold leaf.
According to The Associated Press, it's "a practice reserved for holy men in some areas with strong Buddhist traditions" and was done to honor Fu Hou's dedication to the religion.
Li Ren, the Chongfu Temple's abbot, said that after the 94-year-old's death in 2012, "the monk's body was washed, treated by two mummification experts, and sealed inside a large pottery jar in a sitting position," according to the wire service.
Video published by The Daily Telegraph showed the "Open Cylinder" ceremony when the monk was removed from the pottery jar in January. The newspaper reported that thousands gathered for the event, and the video showed men cutting off the material wrapped around the monk's body.
The abbot told AP that the body showed "little sign of deterioration apart from the skin having dried out." The wire service reported that "the local Buddhist belief is that only a truly virtuous monk's body would remain intact after being mummified."
Men apply lacquer on the mummified body of revered monk Fu Hou in January. Men apply lacquer on the mummified body of revered monk Fu Hou in January. Chinatopix via AP The monk's body was then sterilized and painted. The final step — gilding with gold leaf — started on March 16, according to The People's Daily.
Li Ren said the golden statue "is now being placed on the mountain for people to worship," the wire service reported.
The People's Daily has more pictures of the mummification and gilding process.
I’d like to mummify you but I wouldn’t encase you in gold.
Trump!!! :)
Buddhists especially ought to know that preserving and paying homage to old dried bones is ridiculous. It’s contrary to everything the Buddha taught. But, it’s their funeral (pun intended).
You would encase me in scingilli?
A rather contradictory display. A thick coat of molten gold poured over the dessicated bones of a fasting, now deceased monk. The result looks like some sort of Oscar to be given to a Non-Profit.
JIM!!! ethnic slur!!!
nah, i’d eat it all before it got to your skin.
especially if the sauce was good!
“You say I have one wish, oh Genie? I’d like to be stiff all the time and awash in gold!”
The concept of the incorrupt body of dead saints, monks, or holy people is common to both Buddhist and Christian traditions. Christians don’t worship such people, nor do Buddhists.
Its simply an inexplicable sign of their holiness, which is worthy of respect.
Holiness??? WTH is that?? Define it in terms of how are they better then you or me or anyone else.
There is probably not much difference anyway between the skin of a normal 90-year-old, and the skin of a dead, mummified 90-year-old.
Regards,
“You would encase me in scingilli?”
It would have to be cut very thin.
NPR is not to be trusted on this. Their source is AP which in turn (I think) sources The People’s Daily which is, IIRC, the Communist Party’s newspaper in China.
And I wouldn’t put it past the ChiComs to misrepresent this very sort of thing.
or you could have said this..”NPR is not to be trusted. PERIOD!” LOL
I do appreciate your reply and understand that it’s a tradition in their religion and in many others. The glass encased uncorrupted body of St. Bernadette of Lourdes comes to mind. Parts of the Buddha himself have supposedly been preserved as relics. But I still think it’s curious when juxtaposed to the man’s teachings. But so are a lot of the various practices in the different forms of Buddhism. I think there was a lot syncretic mixing with the Animist religions Buddhism replaced.
You just told me not to trust what the media says. Worship was a word chosen by the writer.
Do you believe in Christian Saints?
Scungilli?
Christian saints are not worshipped.
Christian saints are prayed to for intersession. As in “Saint Benedict pray for me.”
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