NARRATOR: Mount Yudono, Japan--
in the 1,200-year-old Dainichibo
Temple at the base of this holy
mountain, sitting on an
altar within a glass case is
the mummy of the revered
Buddhist monk, Daijuku
Botasutu Shinnyokai Shonin.
Shonin is what is known in
Japan as sokhushinbutsu,
or a living Buddha.
He died in 1783
at the age of 96.
But shockingly, this is
not when the mummification
process was started.
It began six years
before his death.
This ritual of
self-mummification
was commonly practiced by monks
in the Shingon sect of Buddhism
in northern Japan between
the 11th and 19th centuries.
They would willingly
embark on a process
of self-mortification, which
was tantamount to suicide.
The first phase would
last about 1,000 days.
And they would begin the
self-mummification process
by embarking on a very
rigorous low calorie diet.
In the second phase
of the process,
the practitioner would be
imbibing the urushi tea.
Now, the urushi tea
is highly toxic.
However, it was believed to
lacquer, basically, the tissues
and organs from the inside
out in order to favor
the mummification process.
And because of its toxicity--
the flesh so poisonous that even
maggots would not consume it.
JONATHAN YOUNG: When
they were nearly dead,
they would go into a small
chamber just big enough
to sit in the lotus position.
It would be sealed
up except for a reed
that allowed a little air in.
And inside, the monk had a bell.
One day, the bell
would not ring.
The followers would withdraw the
reed and seal up the chamber.
After 1,000 days,
they would open
it to see what had happened.
KEN JEREMIAH: If the
bodies had mummified,
they were considered
living Buddhas.
And they were redressed
in sacerdotal robes
and displayed in special
temple halls called [japanese]..
If they had not mummified,
an exorcism was performed,
and they were simply buried.
NARRATOR: Although
hundreds of monks
tried to attain
sokhushinbutsu, only 24
are known to have succeeded.
But why would these
devout followers of Buddha
have endured such pain in order
to mummify their own bodies?
One of the central beliefs
of Buddhism is reincarnation.
But according to
the Shingon sect,
those who successfully complete
the self-mummification process
become higher beings.
The idea was they didn't
think they were dying.
They perceived this as a
state of suspended animation.
It wasn't death for them.
It wasn't life.
It was somewhere in between.
They needed the body preserved
to enter this other dimension
of reality and to continue
life, although it's not
life as we would interpret it.
NARRATOR: But what did
it mean to a Shingon monk
to become a living Buddha and
transition to a higher realm?
Perhaps the answer can be
found by examining the life
of the original Buddha himself.
The historical Buddha was
known as Siddhartha Gautama.
And he was born around
the mid 6th century BCE.
He founded the Buddhist
tradition in which he expounds
on the path to enlightenment.
It's very important that
the historical Buddha
was understood as a human.
That gives every
human practitioner
access to the same level of
ability and enlightenment.
However, he also took on
some magical powers that,
in some ways, brought him
much closer to a divine being
or semi-divine being than
to a normal mortal human.
He was known to teleport
across the Ganges River,
appearing from one
side of the river
to the other in the
blink of an eye.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the first Buddha
had extraterrestrial origins?
Might the Shingon monks
have believed that,
through the process
of self-mummification,
they too could be transformed
into more advanced beings?
When you look at the life
of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha,
he would appear to
be somebody that we
would maybe call a star child--
part human, part
extraterrestrial.
