Did he mummify himself?

• Position: ARCHAEOLOGY - Liuguan - Brief article

There are plenty of Buddha statues out there, but how many of them have a 1,000-year-old mummy inside? Dutch researchers recently conducted CT scans to shed more light on the identity of the meditating mummy found in a statue in the Netherlands. They believe the mummy is that of a Buddhist monk named Liuguan, who lived in China 1,000 years ago. Even more amazing: He might have mummified himself! Self-mummification was practiced by some Buddhist monks in 10th-century Asia; the monks believed they'd reach enlightenment by meditating to death, literally. They followed a strict diet of seeds, tree bark, and poisonous tea that made them die a slow death...