They mummified themselves.

Over an 800-year period, 24 Buddhist monks in Japan managed to achieve the pinnacle of

self-denial and mastery over their own bodies. When they were finished, they had successfully

preserved their own physical remains for burial, all while they were still alive.

They are known as Soku-shin-butsu, monks who have taken the idea of asceticism so far that

they were able to mummify their own bodies. It was an act of devotion and discipline, but

something that was rarely achieved. Those 24 bodies that have been discovered are thought

to be the few who succeeded, out of hundreds who attempted it.

The practice was outlawed in Japan in the late 19th century, so we've lost a lot of

the details as to how the process actually unfolded, but the core of the experience was a retreat

into the mountains, where the monks would subsist only on what they could forage there,

mainly pine needles, seeds, and small buds. Over time, though, even that food would

be given up. These Buddhist monks had found an extreme use for the tradition known as

fasting, by denying themselves the food they needed and only ingesting items that were

rich in resin, they were able to slowly alter their bodies' makeup. And for many people

today, that goal would sound familiar, to a lesser degree, of course.

For thousands of years, cultures around the globe have used fasting as a tool of religious

devotion, mental focus, political protest, and as a folk remedy for illness and disease,

some view it as the reset button for the human body, while others see it as a chance to

elevate their consciousness. Whatever the goal, though, the means are always the same, the

absence or reduction of food for a period of time.

But history is filled with proof that desperate people will go to extraordinary lengths, in

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