NP September 11, along the death/life interface

[Doug Millison]

"When the 30 years had passed — it might have been 28;
the details are murky — Itigilov's followers did what
he had asked, exhuming his remains from a cemetery in
Khukhe-Zurkhen. What they found, as the story goes,
was Itigilov's body, still in the lotus position,
still perfectly intact, having defied nature's
imperative to decay. ... On Sept. 11, 75 years after
Itigilov's death, the body was once again lifted from
the earth. This time there was a record of the event:
a dozen witnesses, including two forensic experts and
a photographer. The lamas who opened the coffin wore
surgical masks, but they need not have. Itigilov's
body remained preserved. The current Hambo Lama
ordered the body brought to Ivolginsk, where it was
greeted with fanfare, ringing bells and lulling
chants. He ordered the body placed on the second floor
of one of the monastery's four temples, where it
remains today, secreted behind heavy curtains and
locked doors. ... When greeted with it, he relented on
his own order and led a visitor into the temple, up a
flight of narrow wooden stairs, past a locked door and
into the darkened chamber where Itigilov sits atop a
simple table, surrounded by candles and metal bowls
holding oils.The lamas have dressed his body in a
golden robe, with a blue sash laid across his lap. His
eyes are closed, his features blurred, though the
shape of his face and his nose certainly resemble the
1913 photograph. His hands remain flexible, his nails
perfectly trimmed. His skin is leathery but soft. His
head is still covered in short-trimmed hair. "Many
people don't see what's obvious," Hambo Lama Ayusheyev
said. "Many people won't understand even if they see
him." 

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/international/europe/01BUDD.html
A Russian Lama's Body, and His Faith, Defy Time
By STEVEN LEE MYERS







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