Mummified monks are
apparently quite popular in Thailand, Vietnam and in China, although less so. The Tibetans have or at
least did have until the Red Guards destroyed them, a few mummified rimpoches
and lamas too. Some of the saints in Catholicism are deemed to be 'miraculously
uncorrupted.' I don’t know what Communists call the mummified remains of Lenin,
Ho and Mao, although when I saw the Great Helmsman back in the early 80s he
looked decidedly waxy. ‘Do Not Expose To Naked Flame!’ Singaporean Buddhists returning from travels
in Thailand sometimes ask me what I think about or how I can explain the mummified
monk they saw while they were there. In response I always tell them that
amusing story about Ramases II. Ramases was the greatest of all the Egyptian
kings, perhaps the greatest ruler of all time. His many titles included ‘Conqueror of Syria’ ‘Subduer
of the Hittites’, ‘Conqueror of Nubia’ and the fact that he reigned for 66 years
alone qualified him to be called ‘The
Great’. It is even thought by some that the Pharaoh mentioned in the Old Testament is Ramases. After his mummy was discovered in 1881 it was
shipped off to England. When it arrived at Tilbury the customs officers had to
charge some duty on it but they didn’t know under what category it should be
classed. Finally, Ramases II, King of Kings, was categorized under and charged
duty as - dried fish. The top picture is of Thai Buddhist mummy (What's he need the sun glasses for?). The second is of the Sicilian Catholic
variety and the bottom one is the original ‘King of Kings’ brand of dried fish.
4 comments:
Lama is dug up 10 times a year to prove to pilgrims that his body has not decayed:
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2003152&c=setreg®ion=2
The sunglasse prove what we Buddhists always knew that even our mummified monks are cooler than all the rest..Rock and Roll good people. On a more serious note, with all these new Blasphemy and anti hate speech laws pending in the western world, referring to Rameses as dried fish may enter the Akashic record as an offence.
Ra-mses, Tuth-moses, Moses : Mosheh, Moises, the biblic legislator is realy a Faraoh as his history show.
There aren't many Communists in Russia now, but I can assure you that no one ever thought that Lenin's corpse is sacred or preserved by miracle.
It was made long-lasting with the help of conservants and wax. It is wide-known fact and no one in Russia argues with it. In fact nowadays many people think that it's time to bury Lenin's body, but the decision isn't made yet.
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