Sokushinbutsu

Sokushinbutsu (即身仏) are a type of Buddhist mummy. In Japan the term refers to the practice of Buddhist monks observing asceticism to the point of death and entering mummification while alive.^[1][2] Although mummified monks are seen in a number of Buddhist countries, especially in South Asia where monks are mummified after dying of natural causes, it is only in Japan that monks are believed to have induced their own death by starvation.

There is a common suggestion that Shingon school founder Kukai brought this practice from Tang China as part of secret tantric practices he learned.^[3] During the 20th century, Japanese scholars found very little evidence of self-starvation of sokushinbutsu. They rather concluded that mummification took place after the demise of the monk practising this kind of asceticism, as seen in South Asian lands.^[2]