<story><title>Monks Who Spent Years Turning Themselves into Mummies While Alive</title><url>http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sokushinbutsu</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>biot</author><text>This was discussed a few times earlier this year in an article that contains pictures of the monks:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=10892556&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=10892556&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=10650278&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=10650278&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Actual article: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.damninteresting.com&amp;#x2F;sokushinbutsu-the-ancient-buddhist-mummies-of-japan&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.damninteresting.com&amp;#x2F;sokushinbutsu-the-ancient-bu...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Curiously similar wording too. Original article:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Some of the monks drank tea made from the bark of the urushi tree during their fast. Also known as the Japanese Varnish Tree, its sap is normally used to make a lacquer varnish, and it contains the same abrasive chemical that makes poison ivy so unpleasant. Urushi is so toxic that even its vapor can cause a rash, and it remains in the body after death. Drinking urushi tea served to hasten the monk towards death as well as make his body even less hospitable to insects.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;This new article:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;A kind of sumac, the Japanese lacquer tree is called such because it is used to make traditional Japanese lacquer, urushi. Its bark contains the same toxic compound that makes poison ivy so poisonous. If ingested by these monks, urushi tea would have both hastened death and made the body even less hospitable to the bacteria and parasites that aid in decomposition.&amp;quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>Monks Who Spent Years Turning Themselves into Mummies While Alive</title><url>http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sokushinbutsu</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jdironman</author><text>&lt;i&gt;At the completion of a thousand-day cycle on this diet, practitioners were considered spiritually ready to enternyūjō. However, most monks completed two or even three cycles to fully prepare themselves.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Oh, come on. You know they just backed out like anyone would a couple times.</text></comment>