dead buddhist monk, is alive

colleen

great read..
any thoughts??

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,3759,0,0,1,0

KungaTashi

I wonder what the explanation is for this? It seems rather bizare.

Thanks for posting it!

questZENer

ah, yes--supernatural abilities. i'm a sucker for this stuff! i absolutely LOVED the end of the piece where the writers posed a "puzzle" for the rest of us, nearly 90 years after the monk's death to "decipher what he said without saying it". wonderful!

of course, supernatural abilities, if, indeed, this is what this is an example of, is always the "freak show" of Dharma, isn't it? it's like those sections in monastic vows where initiates pledge (and re-pledge) NOT to use their supernatural abilities.

i haven't figured out what i think about this story yet. for now, i'm going to brush it aside and go sit for a spell.

peace,

Simonthepilgrim

Incorrupt bodies of saintly people are not unknown, despite the claims of the article. The one of which I know with a little certainty is that of Bernadette Soubirous, the saint of Lourdes. She died in 1879. Her body was exhumed and examined in 1909, 1919 and 1923. It had remained soft and unrotted. During the 1923 exhumation, my late father was one of the pathologists who examined the body and attended the postmortem investigation. He found that her liver was still soft and malleable. Even though, when he told me about this, he had ceased to be a Catholic and had embraced a humanistic atheism, he declared that he had no explanation for the state of Bernadette's preservation.

Brigid

OMG Simon!! Your father got to examine her body? That's incredible!!! I've been carrying her story in my heart since I was a very little girl (I was obsessed by the lives of the saints when I was little, especially hers) and I've looked at pictures of her hour upon hour and researched her life on and off for years and years. That is just so great! I'm flabbergasted! I feel like I've just been tied to history through you! lol! I can't get over it. That's really amazing. Beautiful Bernadette!!

Palzang

This lama is the real deal, folks. I heard about him when I was in Mongolia. My Mongolian teacher brought me an article from a Russian newspaper that I translated. It went into much greater depth than this poorly translated blurb Coleen found. The body was examined in detail by forensic pathologists from the main Russian forensic institute, and according to them, the skin is pliable, the limbs are flexible, and the cells show signs of being alive! Another interesting fact is that when it gets cold out (he's presently in a glass case at his monastery) the case frosts up - on the inside! As Simon pointed out, this is not entirely unknown in the cases of some Western saints (although I saw a show on, I believe, the History Channel that found that many of these supposed miracles weren't actually - some of the bodies had been preserved or otherwise manipulated to appear as if they hadn't deteriorated - but not all).

The whole story of Khambo Lama Itigalov is quite fascinating. I wanted very much to travel across the border to the monastery near Ulan Ude, but it was too difficult and expensive to get a Russian visa. I'll attach my translation when I get a chance.

Palzang

colleen

please do palzang.. that would be awesome.. really awesome!!
and simon.. thanks for your input.. i will read up on that for sure.
exciting..!!

federica

I chose Bernadette Soubirous as my Confirmation saint, and at the time, it was simply because the Catholic Boarding School I attended, had a beautiful model of the apparition of The Immaculate Conception to Bernadette, in a 'grotto' in the grounds... The statues were life-size, and the fountain was delightful...I used to love to go there and hide in the grotto to read (I wish the books I read couldhave been profound and meaningful, but it was either the Famous Five, or 'Jennings and Derbyshire' (Simon will know what I mean!), which always left me in fits...!)

I don't want to take this thread away from the course it's following, but maybe subconsciously at the time, I identified with her...going against convention, strengthened by the courage of her convictions in the face of interrogatiion and disbelief... isolated in her uniqueness... Due to many factors, in retrospect, this is how I felt amongst my peers... an outsider looking in, of the crowd but never part of it...
Forget it...I'm over that now, growing up has done me the world of good - !

Simonthepilgrim

It is good to read that Bernadette is remembered with love as well as veneration. She had a really hard time: her 'Lady' certainly didn't make her life any easier.

My point, I suppose, is that these phenomena serve to remind us of our need of humility in the face of the universe. We think we understand the 'laws', that life obeys 'rules' that we have described. And then along comes something like this and we realise that Shakspeare got it right once again - ore things in heaven and earth, etc.

It also suggests to me that a certain level of 'spiritual' development (whatever is meant by that) has an effect at the cellular level.

Brigid

It also suggests to me that a certain level of 'spiritual' development (whatever is meant by that) has an effect at the cellular level.

I feel that is true, Simon, and it would also go some way in explaining the Tibetan Buddhist practices with human bones, especially those of advanced practitioners.

And yes, I think humility in the face of the wonder of the universe is essential to all spiritual growth.

Palzang

I just tried to upload the translated article, but it's too big. If anyone wants a copy, send me a message with your email.

Palzang