Mongolia mummy find highlights Buddhist living gods tradition

For more than a century he sat in a meditative pose in remote western Mongolia before being thrust into the spotlight by an unscrupulous thief.
The discovery of the near perfectly preserved mummy of a Buddhist monk born almost 200 years ago may have baffled many but it is also shining a light on how the religion venerates relics of holy figures.
The corpse, still sitting in the lotus position, was recovered in the Central Asian country's capital of Ulan Bator after being stolen from its provincial resting place by a man who aimed to sell it, Mongolian media reported last month.

The remains are believed to those of a monk named Sanjjab who lived from 1822 to 1905, according to G Purevbat, a noted Mongolian Buddhist artist and lama - spiritual teacher - involved in the investigation into the identity of the recovered mummy, as well as its long term preservation.
Purevbat said that the deceased monk had been a disciple of the Geser Lama, a revered figure in Mongolian Buddhism who lived from 1811-1894.
"He is preserved so well, so beautifully," Purevbat told AFP in an interview at the Ulzii Badruulagch Monastery, located in snowy mountains in Tov province about a 90-minute drive from Ulan Bator. Purevbat is head of the monastery.

"Once they finish the cleaning it will look like (the) real features," he said, adding that dust and earth had accumulated on the mummy's body and that it was now being carefully prepared for reinterment.

Mummified holy figures are a vital spiritual force for Mongolian Buddhists, with some believers maintaining that senior lamas whose bodies have been preserved are not really dead.
"We believe they are alive, therefore we believe they are living gods," Purevbat said.
Photos published shortly after the body's discovery show a bony, dusty-looking figure sitting with legs crossed, one palm slightly upturned with its head and upper body bent forward.

Requests by AFP to see the mummy, now in the hands of forensics officials in Ulan Bator, were rebuffed. Purevbat cited the need to conclude the investigation and properly clean the mummy before showing it to the public.
Mongolia in 1990 threw off Soviet control in the aftermath of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and swiftly transformed itself into a vibrant democracy.
The Ninth Bogd Jebtsundamba, the Tibetan-born spiritual leader of Mongolia's Buddhists who had been forced to spend most of his life outside the country in India, died in 2012 and has been subject to mummification at Ulan Bator's Gandan monastery.