In 2002, a sensational message spread around the media. It said that the results of a study of the imperishable body of Lama Itigelov had been obtained. After 75 years of being in a state of burial, the samples taken showed the following. The organics of the hair, nails, skin of a dead person had no difference from the organics of a living person. This was announced at a press conference by G. Ershova, Professor of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Doctor of Historical Sciences.
The Phenomenon of Incorruptibility
It was about the imperishable body of Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, a religious figure who headed East Siberian Buddhists from 1911 to 1917. Earlier in the Buddhist world, there were only a few rare cases when a similar state of human flesh was achieved. Here are some examples.
The body from China belonged to Je Tsongkhapa, a reformer of Tibetan Buddhism who founded the Gelug school. He went down in history in connection with his spiritual and intellectual achievements, and also because of his extraordinary kindness to the people. Tibet.
Tsongkhapa's departure from life occurred at the age of sixty, in 1419. As his disciples testified, at the time of death his body was transformed into the young body of Manjurshi (the teacher of the Buddhas and the spiritual father of the bodhisattvas, the embodiment of supreme wisdom). It became beautiful and emitted a rainbow light. This was a definite sign that Tsongkhapa had reached nirvana. His imperishable body was not preserved. When the monastery of Ganden Serdun was barbarously destroyed in Tibet in 1959, it disappeared.
Vietnam abbot
The imperishable body in Vietnam is not in very good condition. A few kilometers from Hanoi, in the courtyard of the Dau Temple, for almost 300 years, in the lotus position, there is the mummy of Wu Khak Min. According to the legend, Abbot Min plunged into strict fasting and prayer towards the end of his earthly journey.
After a hundred days, he turned to the monks around him: “The time has come for me to leave this world. Wait a month after my spirit departs from the body. If there is a smell of decay, then bury me according to the rite. If corruption is not found, then leave me here so that I can offer prayers to the Buddha forever.”
After Wu Khak Min died, the body was not touched by rotting. The monks covered it with silver paint to protect it from insects. He was left in a sitting position in the niche of the chapel, on a small hill. Following Vietnam's independence, Ming's body was X-rayed. The outlines of a skeleton appeared on the screen, and the doctors were convinced that they were looking at human flesh and not a statue.
As a resultstudies have found that the body is not embalmed, and the brain and internal organs are not touched. It has survived in the tropics, where humidity approaches 100%. At the same time, Min's remains shrank, but did not moisten. When they were examined in the hospital, they weighed only about seven kilograms.
Rainbows over the grave
Among all khuruls (Buddhist temples) located in the Kalmyk steppe in the 19th century, the most revered was the one that stood in the Chapchachi tract, in the Iki-Tsokhurovsky ulus. He was the poorest of all and had no precious relics. And he became famous thanks to his abbot - Bagsha Dangke.
His wisdom, kindness and compassion were legendary. He strictly observed the precepts of Buddhism, which he demanded from other clergy and called on the laity to follow the teachings of the Buddha. Dangke's death came in the middle of the 19th century, but the parishioners did not forget him for many years.
The Kalmyks called the abbot khurul the old teacher. Surprising was not only his life, but also the circumstances of death. After he was buried, over his grave, local residents began to notice the glow and the appearance of rainbows. At the direction of the lamas to whom they turned, it was decided to open the grave. When this was done, the incorruptible body of the saint was discovered, who lay on his side and seemed to be sleeping, with his hand under his head. The lamas called this position the leopard posture.
The remains of the teacher were placed in a special sarcophagus under glass in a separate wagon. Later a special chapel was built. Until 1929, believers walkedthere to bow, and the incorruptible body remained unchanged. But when the times of militant atheism came, the officials representing the Soviet government decided to stop, as they said, "worship of the mummy." At their request, in 1929 the chapel was destroyed, the sarcophagus was broken and the body removed from it. According to rumors, it was sent to Leningrad in order to conduct scientific research. His further fate remained unknown.
But the most remarkable case is the phenomenon of the imperishable body of Khambo Lama Itigelov, which will be discussed below.
Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov: 90 years in the lotus position
Those who do not believe in miracles at all should go to Buryatia, to the Ivolginsky datsan. The imperishable body, which is there in the lotus position under a glass cap, belongs to a man who died back in 1927. His back is straight, it is not supported by anything. Scientists can not understand why the body is not only not decomposed, but even exudes fragrance.
And it is also not clear why the latest skeptics, being here, experience awe and at the same time a surge of spiritual strength. Buddhists know that the Khambo Lama, revered by them, has returned to the world of the living, as he once promised his students, and continues to work miracles.
Pilgrimage from around the world
There is an opinion that, having arrived at this sacred place, one can be healed of illnesses thanks to the miraculous gift that an imperishable body in a datsan possesses. It is in the temple of the Pure Land,attracting pilgrims from all over the world.
According to legend, Khambo Lama, being at a very mature age, took the lotus position, and then his soul left the body in 1927. He bequeathed to be taken out of the grave 75 years after the burial, which was done. Today, 90 years after his death, Lama Itigelov is still in the lotus position. On strictly designated days, here you can observe the longest queues of those who wish to touch the shrine.
Like alive
Some researchers believe that the described phenomenon is one of the cases of energy and information transformation, which is achieved through the highest level of practice of physical and spiritual self-development.
The results of expert research indicate the presence of signs inherent in a living person. These include soft skin, mobile joints. Weak brain activity is also noted. About once every six months, the body loses or gains about half a kilogram of its weight.
Next, a few words should be said about who Khambo Lama Itigelov is.
Earthly existence
As noted above, from 1911 to 1917 he was the head of all Buddhists in Eastern Siberia. However, people who came to him were not only adherents of Buddhist beliefs. An interesting fact is that it was visited by Tsar Nicholas II himself, accompanied by his family. Even St. Petersburg was famous for the healing abilities inherent in Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov.
Having a giftforesight, he exhorted the ministers of Buddhism to leave Russia in order to escape the impending persecution. At the same time, he himself was in no hurry to leave and was in a state of complete calm. He said that they would not be able to take him.
Lama Itigelov was a very educated and versatile person. He wrote many works on Buddhist philosophy. He studied Tibetan medicine well, writing an extensive treatise on pharmacology. All the Buryats yearned for his blessings. There is evidence that those soldiers who went to the Russo-Japanese War and received a blessing from Itigelov returned safe and sound. And he also had a number of such abilities as walking on water and moving through the air. And as it turned out, he was able to subdue time!
I'll be back in 75 years
In 1917, Dashi-Dorzho removed the powers of the Khambo Lama and began to improve his spirit. This went on for ten years, and in 1927, on June 15, he called his disciples and told them to come to him after 30 years and look at his body. “And in 75 years I will return to you,” the teacher added. The monks were very surprised at these words.
But their surprise increased when, sitting in the lotus position, Itigelov turned to them with a request - to read a prayer called "Good wishes to the departing." They refused to do so, as it is read only before the dead. Then the teacher read it on his own, and immediately after that he stopped breathing. His body was placed in a cedar box and interred.
After 30 years, secretly from the authorities,the remains were dug up. The monks saw the imperishable body of the Khambo Lama, performed the appropriate rituals on it, changed its clothes and buried it again. For the second time, the Buddhist monks were convinced of the safety of the body in 1973. Itigelov was finally pulled out of the ground in 2002, on September 10, that is, 75 years after his death, as the teacher predicted.
Experts amazed
To examine the body during the exhumation, a commission was created, consisting of highly qualified forensic experts. There was no limit to their surprise, they had never encountered anything like this before. Lama was not just recognizable by appearance. All the basic features of a living being have been preserved.
The body was warm and the skin soft and supple. In a person who spent 75 years in a coffin, such body parts as eyes, ears, eyelashes, eyebrows, teeth, fingers remained in place! Without exception, the joints flexed well!
In addition, in the protocol of the external examination of the imperishable body of the lama, it was recorded that its integuments are light gray in color, they are dry and pliable when pressed with fingers. No traces were found that could indicate that an autopsy of body cavities had been previously performed for its conservation or embalming. There are no signs of extraction of the brain, incisions, injections, and the like.
Research 2002
After the study of skin particles, scientists made sensational conclusions. It turned out that llama cells are not only alive, they continue to divide. In other words, evidence has been found that all vital processes in the body have not stopped running, they have only slowed down millions of times.
According to one of the experts, V. Zvyagin, the case of such an unprecedented preservation of the body is the only one recorded officially and it is not yet subject to scientific explanation. Of course, there are cases where embalming and mummification of bodies took place. So, in St. Petersburg it became fashionable at the end of the 19th century. The famous surgeon Pirogov independently prepared a solution for storing his own body. Today it has been preserved near Vinnitsa for more than 120 years.
However, for this procedure, internal organs are removed, special chemicals are used. The discovery of bodies in permafrost is not uncommon, but at the same time, they quickly disintegrate from contact with the external environment.
Science cannot explain the riddle
Today, the Ivolginsky datsan has become a longed-for place for every pilgrim, and visiting it has become a dream. You can get to the incorruptible body only a few times a year, on major Buddhist holidays. According to tradition, women are not allowed there. Our President Vladimir Putin visited the datsan twice.
Currently, scientific research on the described phenomenon has been discontinued. In 2005, the current Pandito Khambo Lama, head of the Buddhist Sangha of Russia, Ayusheev, issued an order prohibiting any medical and biological research. In addition, it is not allowed to take a photo of Itigelov's imperishable body. Until the end, the reason remains unclear. Officiallyit was said that science lacked the ability to explain the mysterious phenomenon.
