How Dead Tibetan Monks Baffled Science by Refusing to Decompose

How Dead Tibetan Monks Baffled Science by Refusing to Decompose

Categories: Science

We all know that decomposition is a natural process that no living being can avoid after death. You can stop it with the help of cold, mummification or... another method used since ancient times by Tibetan monks. Tukdam-a condition in which the body of a deceased monk does not decompose for 2-3 weeks, has no explanation from the point of view of science.

How Dead Tibetan Monks Baffled Science by Refusing to Decompose

The fact that the bodies of some monks from Tibetan monasteries do not decompose for a long time after death is not surprising for their fellow monks in the monastery. They simply say that these people are not dead, but are immersed in a deep meditation called "tukdam".

How Dead Tibetan Monks Baffled Science by Refusing to Decompose

Official science refutes the meditative nature of this phenomenon, so the meditating person is still alive, and the monks in tukdam have not found the slightest traces of brain activity. They are simply in meditation poses in which they have been overtaken by death and ignore the laws of nature, refusing to succumb to decomposition for up to three weeks.

Buddhist monks claim that in the state of tukdam, the soul still remains in the body and the person is still alive. The transition to this phase begins with the "clear light" meditation, during which the monk's mind expands until it dissolves into the universal consciousness and does not part with the body. From this moment, the first signs of decomposition begin to appear.

How Dead Tibetan Monks Baffled Science by Refusing to Decompose

The head of the Buddhists, the Dalai Lama, as a passionate supporter of science, has been looking for specialists who can find an explanation for this phenomenon for twenty years. The chief monk does not find anything reprehensible in bringing a scientific basis for a mystical phenomenon. On this occasion, he said the following words:

Currently, scientists from the Center for Brain Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are working on the issue of tukdam. The work within the framework of the "Tukdam Project" is headed by one of the most famous neuroscientists in the United States, Richard Davidson. The material obtained as a result of the research was enough for the scientist for more than a hundred articles, but he is still far from a complete solution of the phenomenon.

How Dead Tibetan Monks Baffled Science by Refusing to Decompose

Davidson first encountered such a phenomenon as tukdam after the death of his close friend and spiritual mentor, the Buddhist monk Geshe Lhundub Sopa. When the doctor saw the body of the deceased five days after his death, he was amazed that he looked as if he had passed away a few minutes ago.

The first report of the "Tukdam Project" was published in January 2021. In it, the scientists reported that they conducted encephalographic studies of the brain of 13 deceased monks and did not find the slightest trace of brain activity. Scientists are concerned about why decomposition, traces of which usually begin to appear 4 minutes after death and become obvious the next day, are invisible on the bodies of Tibetan monks.

According to the Dalai Lama, the lack of progress in the study does not mean that the phenomenon of tukdam has a supernatural nature:

How Dead Tibetan Monks Baffled Science by Refusing to Decompose

The absence of traces of corruption is not the only mystery offered by the dead Buddhist monks to science. Monk Luang Pho Pian from Thailand not only did not decompose in two months, but also smiled after death, baffling both scientists and colleagues.

Keywords: Death | Science | Religion | Tibet | Dalai lama | Monks | Meditation | Corpse

Post News Article

Recent articles

The Spaniard Vicente Romero Redondo — the world's only artist who can draw light
The Spaniard Vicente Romero Redondo — the world's only ...

Any artist knows how hard it is to convey in the painting light, transparency and lightness. But there are masters who can do it ...

The high art of scams: 9 of the loudest scandals about fakes of world masterpieces
The high art of scams: 9 of the loudest scandals about fakes ...

Perhaps, there is no masterpiece in art that they would not try to repeat. Legendary works have been forged at all times. Some — ...

Wild 2000s: nostalgia for the merciless fashion of the noughties
Wild 2000s: nostalgia for the merciless fashion of the noughties

It is difficult for today's teenagers to understand those who are nostalgic for the noughties, when eyebrows were as thin as a ...

Related articles

Why suicide that occurred in England from the early 20th century, was "Shakespeare"
Why suicide that occurred in England from the early 20th ...

In September 1905 a small English town of Wickford, Essex, was shaken by a horrible event. 24-year-old wife of the priest of the ...

Scientists have confirmed the link between the length of the penis and the nose
Scientists have confirmed the link between the length of the ...

Myths that the length of a man's dignity is related to the size of other parts of the body, go around the world for more than one ...

Money fraera ruined: the American hit the jackpot of $ 27 million, and died in poverty and loneliness
Money fraera ruined: the American hit the jackpot of $ 27 ...

Millions of people around the world buy lottery tickets in the hope of winning a happy life. They dream of luxury cars, luxury ...