The Ancient Practice of Sokushinbutsu

Sokushinbutsu was a Japanese practice that I find fascinating, it is the art of self-mummification as performed by some Buddhist monks. The process of mummifying oneself while being still alive is very long, and can cause extreme sufferings, so why would anyone go through this procedure? Monks believed that once the self-mummification is completed one would reach the status of Living Buddha, meaning that they would have the power to bring salvation to others. Self-mummification was a popular practice in Japan between the 11^th and the 19^th century, it was mainly practice by monks from the Shingon school. Many individuals have tried to mummify themselves, but less than 30 were successful.

The self-mummification process was approximately 10 years long, and was realised in three steps. The first step that lasted almost three years was a diet called mokujikigyō, or the abstention from cereals. At this stage monks could only eat nuts, berries, tree bark, and pine needles, as time passed they had to reduce the amount of food they ate. The goal of this step was to reduce body fat, because it decomposes fast after death.

The second step was an even more restrictive diet, but this time the objective was to reduce body fluids. The monks had to drink a tea that induced vomiting. This stage also lasted almost 3 years.

The last step was arguably the most horrible, because monks buried themselves alive in underground chambers that were equipped with bamboo breathing tubes. The monks sat in the dark, meditated and rang a bell until they died. Three years later their body were retrieved.

This is Honmyokai Shonin, one of the oldest self-mummumified monks found (credit to Jeremiah 2010)

To learn more about Asian mummies: http://mummycase.blogspot.ca

Sources: 

Hori, I. 1962. Self-Mummified Buddhas in Japan. An Aspect of the Shugen-Dô ("Mountain Asceticism") Sect. History of Religions, 1 (2), pp. 222--242.

Jeremiah, K 2010, ‘Buried alive : the forgotten practices of self-mummification’, The Virginia Review of Asian Studies, viewed 28 February 2014, <http://www.virginiareviewofasianstudies.com/files/archives/2010/jeremiah_buried_alive.doc>

Bury me

When I was very young my favourite uncle gave me a big and ugly men’s watch, but I was so happy he gave me this that I almost never took it off for ten years. In fact I loved it so much, I kept joking around that I wanted to be buried with it. But my watch has been broken for a few years now and even though I kept it, I don’t plan anymore to be buried with my old watch.

Nowadays, I don’t think I would want to be buried with too many things. Sadly for future archaeologists, my grave goods would probably not tell much about who I was in life. I don’t attach importance to objects, and the few belongings that I value, will go to my family. For example, it would seem logical to bury me with my jewellery, since I always wear it, but they were given to me by relatives that are now passed away, so I want all my jewels to stay in the family.

I bet that if I asked my family what they would bury me with, the answer would be a Montreal Canadiens jersey, and my cat, because these are the some of the things I am most passionate about. If archaeologists were to open my grave, they would probably not find the jersey, but the remains of my cat would certainly be discovered. I suppose a grave with no grave goods apart from an animal, would be very confusing.

Who is this 'Gay Caveman'?

When I first heard that a ‘gay caveman’ had been discovered, I immediately felt that something was wrong and that this name was probably misleading and very sensational.  And after a quick research on the Internet, I still believe my first impression was good. There are just so many things wrong with the appellation ‘gay caveman’.

The ‘gay caveman’ is a male skeleton found in Czech Republic dating from the late Stone Age. What is so special about him is that he was buried accordingly to rituals that are believed to be reserved to females. This individual was buried with his head pointing west, just like any other man during this period, but he was laying on his left side, which is normally seen in women burials. Also, he was buried without weapons, and had household jugs instead.

While it seems reasonable to think this man was treated differently, the evidences are too few to jump directly to the conclusion that he was gay, as lead archaeologist Kamila Remisova Vesinova proposed it. Many other explanations are at least as valid as the homosexual hypothesis, for example the skeleton could have been wrongly identified as a male.

The 'gay caveman' as it was discovered (credit to dailymail.co.uk)

Furthermore, calling this individual a caveman is absolute nonsense, because this word is just wrong. A caveman is only a creation of popular culture, and the world should never be used in a scientific context.

The last point I want to make about this so-called ‘gay caveman’ is that even if he were homosexual, there is absolutely no reason to make a big deal out of this. Homosexuality is very common in the animal reign, and probably has been for a very long time. 

Here is a very sensational article about the discovery of the 'gay caveman': www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8433527/First-homosexual-caveman-found.html

Source:

Daily Mail Reporter, "The oldest gay in the village: 5,000-year-old is 'outed' by the way he was buried", Daily Mail,last updated on April 8, 2011, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1374060/Gay-caveman-5-000-year-old-male-skeleton-outed-way-buried.html#ixzz2xUI1yU2>

My experience at Ross Bay Cemetery

A team project I had to realize for my archaeology of death class, got me really exited, because it gave me a reason to visit Ross Bay Cemetery. My excitement was due to two particular things I had heard about the place, first it is said to be a beautiful example of Victorian graveyard, and it is suppose to be haunted by at least four different apparitions.

Some people feel uneasy when they enter a cemetery, because it is considered a sacred place, but I have never really felt that way. In my opinion, being cemetery is not really different from walking in a park. Unsurprisingly, I have visited many beautiful cemeteries.

Unfortunately, the visit at Ross Bay cemetery had to be cut very short because my teammates and I were surprised the cold temperature. None of the team members were prepared to stay a while in the cold, and it was impossible to reschedule, because of that we did not really take the time to choose the monuments we wanted to look at. We randomly picked graves that looked like they belonged to either Chinese or Japanese individuals.

If our team had to go back at Ross Bay Cemetery, the only thing I would do differently, beside picking a warmer day, is that we should have come up with a clearer idea of what research questions we wanted to explore before going to the cemetery, so we could choose the monuments accordingly.