In 1996, Li Jinsuo was cleaning the dust of a Buddha statue in Zhengguo Temple when suddenly, a broom swept the mud skin off the head of a Buddha statue. Li Jin locked on the Qing and looked at it, and he was immediately terrified, and he screamed and ran away from the door.
One day in 1996, Li Jinsuo, a villager from Zhengguo Temple in Mianshan, came to the temple to carry out daily cleaning work as usual. He held a broom in his hand and brushed away the dust of the Buddha statue one by one. While he was dusting the head of a seated Buddha statue, Li Jinsuo accidentally used too much force, causing part of the clay Buddha statue to be swept off, unexpectedly revealing a yellowed spherical object.
Li Jin locked his eyes and immediately felt creepy, because it was obviously a person's skull! After screaming loudly, he threw down the broom in his hand and fled in an instant. The other monks heard the sound and rushed to see what was happening. Li Jinsuo trembled and pointed to the Buddha statue, incoherently describing the human skull he had seen.
The monks were also shocked, and they carefully examined the Buddha statue and indeed found this disturbing discovery. Faced with such an unusual situation, they decided to immediately report the matter to the county's antiquities department so that it could be identified and dealt with by professionals.
After receiving the report, the county's cultural relics department took the incident very seriously. So I quickly reported it to the relevant departments in the province again.
A few days later, archaeological experts sent by the province came to Zhengguo Temple with instruments to investigate the matter in detail. They first examined the seated Buddha, whose secret had been discovered for the first time, and carefully peeled back the soil from the cracks in the statue, and were surprised to find that there were pieces of cloth inside. This has already established that the Buddha statue is indeed depicted with a human body.
In order to investigate further, the experts selected several other Buddha statues in different forms for examination, and the results were even more shocking - all of them contained human remains! According to the number of Buddha statues, experts judge that there are a total of 12 "flesh Buddhas" in Zhengguo Temple. Later, 3 "flesh Buddhas" were also found in Yunfeng Temple outside the temple, so there are a total of 15 "flesh Buddhas" in the two temples of Mianshan.
The origin of these "flesh Buddhas" has become a historical puzzle. After archaeological experts have studied and analyzed the details of their clothing and ritual utensils, it is judged that the creation of these "flesh Buddhas" spans a very large period, from the Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, and has gone through many dynasties. This fully records the style of the senior monks of the Mianshan Monastery in the past dynasties, and is of great significance to the study of the local Buddhist culture and history.
So, how did these miraculous "flesh Buddhas" come to be? After research, experts concluded that the production process was extremely complex:
First of all, there is the need for a virtuous monk, who is said to have the psychic ability to predict lifespan, and when they perceive that time is running out, they will choose to live alone and go on a long retreat.
During the retreat, the monks gradually reduce their food intake to only some wild fruits and water, probably to eliminate body fat and other substances that are not conducive to preservation. When the body and mind have reached a state of extreme purity, the monk will enter deep meditation and eventually pass away peacefully.
After the death of the monk, the disciples will wash the holy body, fold it and place it in a large lime jar prepared in advance, fill it with charcoal around it, cover it with lime, and place it in a ventilated and dry place for a long time to be closed and fermented.
After about 3 years, the disciples carefully open the jar, and if the flesh is not rotten and deteriorated, the next step of the statue can be carried out. They would invite skilled craftsmen to carefully wrap the body of the monk with a special mixture of clay according to his appearance during his lifetime, and then shape the Buddha statue in different postures.
After incense burning, worship and consecration, this clay statue containing the true body of a high monk has become a "flesh Buddha" worshipped. Through this method, the Mianshan monasteries of the past dynasties have turned many virtuous and respected monks into Buddha statues to show their reverence and sorrow.
Today, these miraculous "flesh Buddhas" have stood in Zhengguo Temple for hundreds of years, quietly accepting the admiration of pilgrims and tourists. They have gone through the vicissitudes of life and witnessed the inheritance and development of Buddhist culture in the region.
As a rare national treasure, these "flesh Buddhas" need to be continued to be studied and protected by future generations with a scientific spirit and a sense of responsibility, so that this unique Chinese cultural treasure can be passed down through the ages.
