Would you believe me if I said that you can meet a 545-year-old Buddhist monk sitting peacefully? Meet Lama Sangha Tenzin, the only naturally-mummified mummy of India. This 500-550-year-old mummy still has intact skin, visible teeth, empty eyes, and an open mouth, who can be found sitting peacefully in an upright position inside nothing, but a thin glass sheet. Tenzin originally came from Tibet to Gue — a village in the Spiti valley, a cold desert mountain valley located amidst the Himalayas in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh — for meditation and reached a level of enlightenment that was only spoken about and never stood up again.

Lama Sangha Tenzin underwent a ritual that was only performed by the most highly devoted and spiritual leaders of Yamagata in Northern Japan during the 11th and 19th centuries. These monks used to gradually starve themselves to death to reach the highest possible incarnation of enlightenment. This ritual was known as "sokushinbutsu" (self-mummification). These monks strictly followed an "only tree-based" diet majorly consuming nuts, roots, and herbs to completely deplete their body's fat reserves.

These monks took the phrase “consistency is the key” to a whole new level! For the first 1,000 days, the monks ceased all food except nuts, seeds, fruits, and berries and engaged in extensive physical activities to deplete all fat reservoirs. For the next thousand days, they further restricted their diet to just tree bark and roots. Near the end of this period, they ingested poisonous cycad nuts and lacquer tree sap, which facilitated vomiting to remove any moisture from the body, and acted as a deterrent to flesh-eating insects after death. In the final part of this excruciating preparation, the monks moved into a stone tomb, almost the size of the monk sitting in a lotus position (crossed-legged sitting meditation position), with a small air tube that provided oxygen. The monks did not move from that sitting position till their “soul” left their physical body.

Tenzin is also believed to undergo the same process as the Buddhist monks of Yamagata. We can find evidence for the same through the high residual nitrogen levels in his body. One can find a gomtag (meditation belt) around his body running along his neck and legs that helped him maintain that posture till his death.

Sangha Tenzin – "the living Buddha", according to the local folklore, sacrificed himself to save the village of Gue from a scorpion plague that instilled havoc in the valley. The legend says that the day his soul left his physical incarnation and reached the level of enlightenment unknown to the human world. Surprisingly, a rainbow appeared throughout the Spiti valley and the village got rid of the scorpions forever.

Shocking as it may sound, Tenzil’s hair and nails are still growing! (with no scientific explanations of this phenomenon). Maybe, it was plain brutal suicide. Perhaps, Sangha Tenzin found the apex limit of human achievement and transcended to another matrix.

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