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Taken from a 5 chan Thread (2021)
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| Shinyokai Shōnin in Dainichibou Temple |
1 (OP):
“To strip away as much unnecessary fat and moisture from the body as possible, Shinyokai Shōnin (真如海上人) abstained from eating grains. Then, in order to expel any remaining impurities, he fasted for 47 days, taking in nothing but salt and water. After that, to prevent his internal organs from rotting or attracting worms after death, he drank the sap of the urushi (lacquer) tree—which is poisonous to humans.
He then entered a stone chamber, built about three meters underground and reinforced with earth-retaining stones. Inside the chamber was a zakan—a wooden box designed so that one could sit cross-legged in meditation. The box was packed tightly around with charcoal, which helped absorb moisture and odors. Once inside, the monk devoted himself solely to continuous chanting of sutras.
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| Stone Chamber |
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| Zakan |
Two bamboo tubes, hollowed out at the joints, connected the chamber to the outside. The thicker tube allowed air to flow in and disciples to provide water. Through the thinner tube, a string with a bell was passed. At a fixed time each day, a disciple would ring the bell, and the monk inside would respond with a ring of his own, signaling that he was still alive. When the ringing from below ceased, the disciples understood that their master had attained Buddhahood.”
3 (OP):
The general way of making a sokushin-butsu:
Dig hole in the ground and build a stone chamber inside. A wooden coffin is placed there, and when the monk who intends to become a sokushinbutsu enters it, everything is sealed up and covered with earth. A bamboo tube is left for air, but in that darkness, with no food or water, the monk continues chanting sutras while striking a gong or bell—until he dies.
9:
>>3
I heard a story that some old lady once offered a bun or dumpling at the air hole and ended up suffocating the monk. Is that true?
⭐️NOTE:
I’ve heard that this is a story about Shinyokai Shōnin.
83:
>>9
Yep, it’s true.
80:
>>3
I bet some of those monks didn’t actually want to do it.
159
I’d want to cook yakiniku (barbecued beef) or cup yakisoba (instant fried noodle) right by the air hole.
6:
I saw one for the first time at a mummy exhibition.
7:
Apparently one of my ancestors used to bring dried persimmons to a monk who had gone under a hōkyōintō (a stupa). Eventually he died down there.
10:
So… dying itself is the training?
11:
These days, fewer people do it.
14:
>>11
“Fewer”?? Are there actually people still doing it nowadays?
89:
>>14
Sure, in India there are plenty.
21:
>>11
Isn’t it illegal now?
25:
Yeah, a colleague who overlooked it were charged with assisting suicide.
31:
>>25
I figured as much…
16:
Why are there so many in the Tohoku region?
307:
>>16
Probably because they would do it during famines or poor harvests.
17:
What about bowel movements?
19:
>>17
Where would they even come from?
26:
>>19
Well, at first you’d still have some. As long as your metabolism’s working, you’d keep peeing too.
32:
The serious ones fast beforehand, drink lacquer sap to vomit and purge, and expel all fluids before going in.
352:
That sounds like you’d just die of dehydration right away.
190:
>>26
I had enteritis and fasted for a week, but I still pooped.
When the intestinal lining sheds, that also becomes stool.
So apparently, even if you fast, you still poop.
306:
>>190
Yeah, even newborn babies who only take in liquids still poop.
20:
Gautama-san from India: “Did I ever tell you guys to do this…?”
28:
>>20
Sokushin-butsu is from Mikkyō (Japanese Esoteric Buddhism).
In fact, it’s opposed to Buddha’s teachings.
34:
>>28
It’s all about becoming one with Dainichi Nyorai ~
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| Dainichi Nyorai at Koyasan (See below at 84) |
⭐️Note: (from Tokyo National Museum)
43:
>>28
Even Buddha pushed himself with ascetic practices to the point of near death.
But he realized it was pointless, so he sat under a tree, got high on hemp, embraced love and peace, and then attained enlightenment.
22:
I’d go insane halfway through.
35:
Didn’t Kukai also become a Sokushin-butsu?
57:
>>35
Nah, Kukai is still alive.
They say at some temple, deep inside, Kukai is still there and being served meals.
84:
>>57
That place is Mount Koya(Koyasan) in northern Wakayama.
At Okunoin (the inner sanctuary of Koyasan), for over 1,200 years, meals have been brought to Kukai twice a day without fail.
That’s because Okunoin has the mausoleum where Kukai is said to have entered nyujo (deep eternal meditation, see Note below).
From the very day he entered, it’s believed he continues training there even now.
The times are 6:00 am and 10:30 am every day.
The meals are carried to the Lantern Hall in front of the mausoleum.
This ritual is called Shōjin-gu.
Stuff like this gives me chills.
Creepy.
⭐️Note: (translated from Ohtani University website)
Nyūjō (入定) refers to the state in which monks or ascetics, after undergoing ascetic practices such as fasting, enter into a condition where their soul is believed to live on eternally.
Originally, the term “nyūjō” meant entering dhyāna (meditative absorption) — that is, entering a religious state of meditation — and had nothing to do with death. However, what is commonly called “nyūjō” in the world is, simply put, to withdraw into a secluded place such as a cave and pass away in a state that appears like entering a long, profound meditation — in other words, to die.
⭐️Pictures of monks delivering food to Kukai:
⭐️YouTube videos:
Koyasan, Japan Travel Guide
Experience the Life of a Monk: Temple Stay in Koyasan
98:
>.84
What a waste of food… I hope the young monks get to eat it afterward.
105:
>>84
I was moved seeing all those great figures’ graves clustered on the grounds.
148:
>>84
Since serving the same food every day gets boring, they sometimes serve modern dishes too.
⭐️NOTE:
The meals offered to Kūkai are mainly traditional shōjin ryōri (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine), but it’s said that Western-style dishes such as pasta and stew are also sometimes offered!
Every year, on the anniversary of the day Kūkai entered nyūjō, new clothing is also presented to him.
153:
>>148
So you think Kūkai drinks bubble tea too?
196:
>>153
Lol, that cracked me up.
181:
>>84
I heard Kūkai could bench press 140 kg.
184:
>>181
Lmao.
230:
>>181
Didn’t see that coming, made me laugh.
37:
Well, faith really is something amazing.
42:
>>37
Yeah, to believe in something so much you’d willingly turn yourself into a mummy… ordinary people just couldn’t do that.
39:
I heard that someone else has to seal you in.
There’s even a story about a woman who locked a monk inside while hearing him cry and scream from the other side of the door, making sure he couldn’t escape.
40:
Apparently, sometimes when they dig the wooden boxes back up, they find claw marks all over the inside, like the monk had been scratching desperately.
41:
Once you die, that’s it for you—but the body itself can remain for a thousand years. That really makes them a Buddha. I first learned about it from Phoenix: The Ho-ō Chapter (by Tezuka).
49:
I like the practice where they seal you in a boat and set you adrift on the sea better.
52:
>>49
That’s basically torture at that point…
220:
>>49
That’s called Fudaraku Tokai.
⭐️NOTE:
Fudaraku Tokai (補陀落渡海) was a Buddhist religious practice once carried out in Japan.
Believers would set out to sea, seeking rebirth in Mount Potalaka (Fudaraku-san), the pure land of the bodhisattva Kannon. Since Mount Potalaka was thought to lie to the south, departures most often took place in the medieval period from Kumano or Tosa.
In reality, it was an act that led to death: practitioners might tie heavy stones to themselves and sink into the water, or bore holes in the boat so it would go under. Later on, it also came to be practiced as a kind of water burial, in which the body of a deceased monk was placed on a boat and sent out to sea. (Japanese Wikipedia)
The method: the monk would board a small boat, bringing along food and lamp oil. The boat was nailed shut from the outside so that escape was impossible, and it was towed out to sea by an escort vessel. Once far offshore, the towline was cut, leaving the monk to drift. He would continue chanting sutras until the boat sank, undertaking this act of self-sacrifice in the hope of attaining rebirth in Kannon’s Pure Land.
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| A boat used for Fudaraku Tokai |
62:
I wonder if there’s a moment inside the stone coffin when they think, “Man, I shouldn’t have done this.”
216:
>>62
Even if they wanted to quit, they probably wouldn’t be allowed to.
64:
Like the staff planted at the summit of Mt. Tsurugi, people back then were willing to die for faith and for the sake of others. These days, nobody gets that desperate anymore—it’s just tragic.
⭐️NOTE:
Aiming for the first ascent, in 1907 (Meiji 40), a team led by Yoshitarō Shibasaki of the Japanese Army’s Land Survey Department, under orders from the government, endured many hardships and finally managed to carve a route to the summit.
However, to their astonishment, at the summit they found a shakujō-gashira (the head of a monk’s staff) and an iron sword, the origins of which were unknown. It was obvious that these objects had belonged to ascetics or Buddhist monks, and subsequent investigation after the descent revealed that they dated back to the Heian period (AC 794–1185). To this day, it remains a mystery when, by whom, and how the mountain was first climbed.
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| The iron sword and the head of a staff found at the summit |
67:
It’s basically heresy, way too far removed from the Buddha’s teachings.
69:
Doesn’t the desire to become a sokushinbutsu itself count as a worldly attachment?
75:
>>69
If it’s for the sake of saving others, then it’s okay.
79:
>>69
It does count. That’s why the Buddha said, “Even the desire for enlightenment must be abandoned. The harder you strive for it, the further it slips away.” But people never really understood that.
94:
>>79
Huh, I see.
71:
I wanted to go see one in Yamagata, but couldn’t because of COVID.
283:
>>71
I actually went last March, just barely. I got interested after seeing the mummy exhibition in Ueno. It was mysterious and beautiful.
72:
The Sennichi Kaihōgyō (Thousand-Day Circumambulation Practice) is crazy too. I went to a training experience on Mt. Hiei, and even the monks there all said they could never do it themselves.
⭐️NOTE: Read more about Sennichi Kaihōgyō (Thousand-Day Circumambulation Practice) in the comment 122 below!
76:
Even after all that effort, sometimes the mummification didn’t turn out well.
77:
How could anyone even drink lacquer sap? I had a bad rash just from touching it.
81:
It was usually done by ex-criminals or monks of lower rank. Seems like it wasn’t really considered orthodox.
92:
This Shinyokai Shōnin supposedly gouged out his own eye to end an epidemic.
102:
It was also a custom meant to ease the fears of people suffering from famine and conflict—so there was probably an element of social pressure too.
103:
But still, after all that, they’re cared for so carefully, even with makeup applied, and everyone prays to them… They really are like Buddhas. I’m jealous. If I died alone at home and mummified, I wonder if someone could enshrine me like that.
107:
When you look in the Guinness Book, Indian monks show up a lot, like the guy who held his right hand raised until death. Mind-boggling.
113:
>>107
He’s Indian… left hand… you know.
117:
At my grandfather’s funeral, my dad misunderstood “sokushin-butsu” as just a polite word for “passing away” and ended up giving the most ridiculous eulogy.
154:
>>117
LOL.
122:
Pure insanity lol
Training to become a sokushin-bustu:
⭐️NOTE: This one essentially describes how Sennichi Kaihōgyō (Thousand-Day Circumambulation Practice) is done. I think the poster might be confusing it with sokushin-butsu.
It’s the sennichi-gyō (Thousand-day training), a pilgrimage of about seven years through the mountains. In the first 1–3 years, one must walk more than 30 km of mountain paths every day for 100 days while chanting sutras, which takes around 6 hours. In years 4–5, the same is done for 200 days each year.
If along the way a practitioner fails or gives up, they are bound to commit suicide — it is an extremely harsh training. Because of this, monks have to carry a dagger when they set out on the practice.
From the 5th year onward comes a training called dōiri. This takes place in a temple, where for about 9 days the practitioner abstains from food, water, sleep, and lying down, while continuously chanting sutras.
Even in the 2010s, there were monks who completed this training, and it is said that since the Heian period, more than 50 people have done so.
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| The attire a monk would be wearing for Sennnich Kaihōgyō |
He was temporarily running errands for them and was unaware of what was going on in the lab. Read more about Sakai below at 357 and 479)
128:
>>122
But even if you succeed, you end up dying — what’s the point of it?
135:
>>128
Because the significance lies in leaving behind a body in a pure state.
141:
>>122
Didn’t the Buddha himself say ascetic practices are meaningless? Why do they still do it?
303:
>>141
The Buddha’s early Buddhism and Ryūju (龍樹, Nāgārjuna in Sanskrit) interpretation of Mahāyāna Buddhism are completely different religions.
Early Buddhism is closer to Aum Shinrikyō. What we think of as Buddhism today was in fact essentially founded by Ryūju. Amazingly, even in a Buddhist country like Japan, almost no one knows about Ryūju.
136:
There were quite a lot of failures too, and apparently there are still some undiscovered Buddha mummies out there.
138:
They couldn’t perfectly seal the stone chambers, so water sometimes got in and the bodies decayed.
So, a beautifully preserved mummy like Shinyokai Shōnin is extremely rare.
167:
>>138
In the middle of the Japanese mountains, buried in dug-out holes in the ground, the humidity must’ve been insane.
152:
Didn’t the guy who were certified as Dai-ajari also go through some insane training?
They didn’t go as far as dying, but still.
⭐️NOTE:
Dai-ajari (大阿闍梨) is the title given to the highest-ranking monks in Buddhism, particularly in the Tendai sect.
In Tendai Buddhism, those who complete the ultra-harsh training known as Sennichi Kaihōgyō (Thousand-Day Circumambulation Practice) at Mount Hiei and other sacred sites are called Dai-ajari.
They are said to be so rare that only a handful have existed over the course of several centuries.
338:
>>152
Imagine there are at least three people who who completed a week without drinking, eating, or sleeping, and after all that harsh training too. Crazy.
376:
>>338
I heard somewhere that humans die after a few days without sleep, but some people can actually go a week without sleeping?
Guess it depends on their unique constitution.
393:
>>376
A recently ordained Dai-ajari said on the radio that the hardest part wasn’t staying awake—it was not drinking anything.
418:
>>393
Just the thought of being forbidden to drink water makes me shudder.
Your mouth would be bone-dry, your throat parched—how could you even chant sutras in that state?
401:
>>376
They’re allowed to drink water whenever, so they sneak in a bit of sleep during those moments.
⭐️NOTE: I’ve watched an interview of a monk who had completed this thousand day practice, and he said that while he was not allowed to drink water, he was permitted to rinse his mouth three times a day. But he admitted that he could have had some moments of microsleeps without him realising it.
157:
Meanwhile, modern-day monks…
162:
A monk who completed the Sennichi Kaihōgyō (Thousand-Day Circumambulation Practice):
⭐️NOTE:
This is a picture of Ryōjun Shionuma (塩沼亮潤), the Dai-ajari and head priest of Jingenji Temple.
3 Mindsets that Connect the World | Ryojun Shionuma | TEDxTohoku
(Turn on the caption for English subs)
335:
>>162
This person is incredible.
I only caught a glimpse of him on TV, but you could tell he had attained enlightenment.
Even Matsumoto (Note: a well-known comedian) didn’t make fun of him at all.
357:
>>162
If I remember right, this person went through real hardship.
He lost his wife and child.
And then he said he took on ascetic training so that fewer people in the world would have to go through the same kind of suffering.
⭐️NOTE:
I think this poster might be talking about another Dai-ajari called Yūsai Sakai (酒井雄哉 1926-2013), who completed the thousand day practice twice. His wife committed suicide.
468:
>>162
I love that story about when he was in training where he wasn’t allowed to speak.
He was taking a dump in the woods, and some old lady saw him and started praying to him.
And he slipped up and said something like, “Please stop…”
475:
>>468
LOL
512:
>>162
When you can no longer continue the practice, you’re supposed to take your own life.
For that, you always carry a “death cord (死出紐),” a dagger, and 100,000 yen for burial expenses.
Is that true?
163:
They say in Japan’s hot and humid climate, most bodies rot away and are never found.
The reason so many are discovered in Tohoku is thanks to the cold and dryness.
195:
Even nowadays, some monasteries still have really harsh training.
There was a monk who trained deep in the mountains, and he said he didn’t even learn about the Great East Japan Earthquake until a year later.
218:
>>195
I heard that at places like Eiheiji, once you enter it, you basically can’t access any outside information for about two years.
202:
Is it possible to give up?
210:
>>202
Nope, you’d have to kill yourself.
Though, compared to the suffering, that would probably be far easier.
310:
>>210
If someone tried to run away instead of killing themselves, would they chase after them?
219:
>>202
When you give up, that’s when you take out the dagger from your robe and say goodbye to this world.
⸻
224:
I saw this on Instagram—what do y’all think?
⭐️NOTE:
The profile says: “Shun, a monk who makes sweets. Activity - Making sweets, cooking, cocktails.
Age- 20. Occupation - College Student & Monk”
234:
>>224
Cocktails? Are you kidding me?
At least stick to the Five Precepts.
255:
>>234
Seriously though, is there anything about this guy that is right?
⭐️NOTE: The descriptions say those are meats of Namazu (catfish), crocodile, kangaroo, and camel😅
266:
>>255
He enjoys every kind of meat on earth, lol.
247:
>>224
If he practices Jōdo Shinshū, then it’s not a problem.
227:
When you think about how religion can give people the strength to push human limits like this, it makes sense that so many of the world’s most successful people are deeply philosophical and devout.
257:
The fact that the body still remains even today is just amazing.
275:
For some reason, there are a bunch of them in my hometown.
I wonder why.
Maybe the monks just didn’t have any entertainment and got bored, so they did it?
287:
>>275
“Man, I’m bored… I know! I’ll die!”
That’s pretty messed up lol.
318:
>>275
Yamagata just has way too many sacred mountains.
285:
I love that story about the training where they’d lock a monk inside a box with no way out, load it on a boat, and send him drifting into the open sea.
The head temple insisted, “This is done voluntarily as training,” but inside the boxes they found scratch marks from monks trying to escape, and there were even cases where a monk barely made it out alive, only to be caught and forced to set out again. That’s why it eventually got banned.
⭐️More infor about Furadaku Tokai:
293:
>>285
Yikes…
When and where did that happen?
291:
Still better than dousing yourself in gasoline, chanting sutras, and burning to death.
309:
There was also that case in Tibet or somewhere deep in the mountains, where a statue believed for centuries to be a Buddha image actually had a real human body inside.
312:
Has anyone done this in recent years?
347:
>>312
It’s banned now since it counts as assisted suicide, but they were still doing it up through the Taishō (1912-1926) or early Shōwa era (1926-1989).
Old folks in Yamagata say that when they were kids, they heard the sound of bells ringing from under the ground.
394:
Rather than doing this, you’d be better off doing 10,000 gratitude punches a day.
395:
Buddhism is way too freeform in so many ways.
423:
>>395
Gautama: “Don’t argue over dogma.”
Later monks: “Lol, we can spout any nonsense without being criticized! Let’s go even more extreme, lol.”
That’s basically how it goes.
396:
Monks who self-immolate in protest strikes are pretty wild too.
424:
>>396
People like that are the ultimate idiots.
No one’s death ever actually made society better.
If you want to help, you’d be a hundred times better off raising money or gathering supplies.
445:
>>424
Yeah, but the problem is there are always folks who call that kind of act “noble.”
402:
So, are there actually places that display monks who became mummies while still sitting in meditation?
417:
>>402
Yeah, there are beautifully preserved monk mummies in Yamagata or somewhere.
⭐️NOTE: There are 17 sokushin-butsu in Japan, and 8 of them are found in Yamagata.
⭐️LINKS:
464:
Apparently every ten years they wipe down the body of the sokushinbutsu and change its robes.
I even bought a charm in Yamagata that had cloth from one of those robes.
⭐️YouTube Video below - Robe-Changing Ceremony for the Sokushinbutsu Shinnyokai Shōnin
Dainichibō Temple, Yudonosan Head Temple, Tsuruoka City:
497:
>>464
Man, I’d hate to be the one doing that—one slip of the hand and the whole thing might crumble.
527:
>>497
These days, it’s supervised by university or museum specialists.
479:
I read a book by Yūsai Sakai, the Dai-ajari.
I was surprised his thinking wasn’t all that different from mine.
If anything, the fact that he understood ordinary worldly ideas but still gave spiritual guidance made his words hit even harder.
 |
| Yūsai Sakai |
⭐️ Links:
499:
>>479
I heard he founded a temple but closed it within his own lifetime.
I’d like to go pay my respects there once.
⭐️NOTE:
Sakai spent the last years of his life in Imurodani Fudō Hall at the foot of Hieisan (Mount Hiei).
The place is now run by another Dai-ajari, Genshin Fujinami, who was a disciple of Sakai and appeared in the video at the comment 122.
505:
I wonder if they ever feel regret once they’re inside.
If they did even a little, I feel like one terrifying vengeful spirit would spawn as a result.
————————
I found this interesting video while searching for videos on monks:
From US Marine to Zen Monk:
Comments
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I've seen the mummified monk in Thailand who wears a cool sunglasses and look like an old wise movie star because of that (because the empty eye socket is terrifying, also lizards nest in it).
I've also seen the tradition of the Toraja people where every few years they unseal their deceased relatives and give them new clothes and offerings, including modern day foods and sometimes even modern day gadgets iirc, they're not self mummification though, it's just how they're entombed and preserved. There's this one photo of someone who took a selfie with their great great grandfather's mummified bodies, and honestly it's kinda amazing that's how they respect their ancestors or deceased relatives.
Then again you have to respect the willpower of those monks who managed to achieve it voluntarily, regardless of what their intentions or teachings
It's a super interesting read. Thank you for the hard work Saya.
Honestly the monks' perseverance amaze me.
I sure hope none of them were forced to do any of those.
And it's a pity to those that regretted it when they were already closed in. Even so, truly hope they were rewarded with what they achieved before the regret.
~ nunu ~