Monkâs Body
Miraculously Intact 80 Years After Death
Ivan Pentchoukov,
Nataly Teplitsky, Epoch Times | June 13, 2017
The body of a Russian Buddhist leader who died
80 years ago is not showing any signs of decay to this
day.
Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov passed away in 1927. He
left a note for monks to exhume his body at a later date. When
the Buddhist monks exhumed his body 48 years later in
1955, they were astonished to find no signs of decay.
They exhumed the body again 22 years later in
1973 and were again stunned to find the body in its original state.
The monks kept their findings secret, fearing that the Soviet
communist regime could destroy the body as part of itâs massive
campaign to wipe out religion.
The monks exhumed the body again in 2002, well
after the collapse of the soviet regime. The body still appeared
alive. This time, they made the miracle public and called on
scientists to examine it. The body appeared preserved as though it
was mummified, although no mummification was actually
performed.
âSamples taken 75 years after the body had
been buried, show that the organics of the skin, hair, and nails of
the dead man arenât any different from that of a living human,â
said Galina Yershova, professor of history at the Russian
State University for Humanities, according to Pravda.ru.
âHis joints flex, the soft tissues are elastic
just like in a living person, and after they opened the box, where
the body of the Lama lay for 75 years, there was a very pleasant
fragrance,â Yershova said.
The official statement by scientists and
pathologists who examined the body in 2002 was that the body was
âin the condition of someone who had died 36 hours agoâ
âIn my years of practice I have encountered
quite a few instances of preserved bodies, but those were either
the result of mummification or extreme environmental conditions,â
Professor Viktor Zvyagin of the Federal Center of Forensic Medicine
told the Buddhist Channel in a telephone interview. âBut this is
something different, and for me, incomprehensible. Itâs a
phenomenon that calls for the most detailed research.â
According to the results, the protein
structure of the body was not damaged; it was identical to the one
of a living person.
The miraculous body has become holy for
Buddhists in the Russian region of Buryatia, where it now rests in
the Ivolgin Buddhist Monastery in the regional capital of
Ulan-Ude.
Itigelovâs fame reached far and wide. In 2013,
Russian president Vladimir Putin visited the monastery. The
president spent some time alone with Itigelov at the beginning of
his visit. Before leaving he went again to say âfarewellâ,
according to Putinâs press secretary.
The president noted that Buddhism is one of
Russiaâs traditional religions. He also vowed the governmentâs
support for the monastery.
The Soviet Union, under Stalin, repressed
all manifestations of religion, executing hundreds of lamas
and destroying 46 Buddhist temples and monasteries. In the years
since the Soviet Union collapse, across Russia the Buddhists have
begun to thrive again, rebuilding ruined temples and attracting
more followers.
The Hambo Lamaâs History
Hambo Lama Itigelov studied at the Anninsky
Datsan, the Buddhist University in Buryatia. Itigelov received
degrees in medicine and philosophy (on the nature of emptiness). He
also created an encyclopedia of pharmacology.
In 1911, Itigelov became a Hambo Lama, the
head of the Buddhist faith in Russia. During the period from
1913 to 1917, he opened the first Buddhist temple in St.
Petersburg. He also published religious tractates and
teachings and united many of the religionâs factions.
The Hambo Lama was invited to celebrate
the 300th anniversary of the Romanov family, and on March 19, 1917,
the Russian Tsar Nikolai II gave him the St. Stanislav
Award.
During the First World War, Itighelov was
helping the army with money, clothes and medications. He also had
built a set of hospitals where lama doctors helped to cure wounded
militants. For his contributions, Itighelov was awarded with St.
Anna medal.
In 1926, he warned the Buddhist monks about
the coming âredâ terror and advised them to flee to Tibet. But he
himself never left Russia. His prediction about the red terror came
true. The Communist regime killed an estimated 30 million Russian
people in the decades the followed.
In 1927, Itighelov told lamas that he was
preparing to leave this world. He started a meditation and soon was
dead.