To avoid doubt:
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Monks Not Dead.
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I feel happyā¦!
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Some say he will meditate forever.
Oh, donāt be such a baby.
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Iāll bet HE didnāt take any vaccinesā¦
āYou Are The Oneā
If youāre filled with affection youāre too shy to convey,
meditate in my direction.
Feel your way.
ā ancient Buddhist text
āGet the gimp.ā
āHeās sleeping.ā
āWell, wake him up!ā
Behold - the fascinating me-shaped hole in the universe!
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I think this is just a translation error. Tukdam means āto be dead while in the meditating positionā, doesnāt it?
That is, being dead is a necessary prerequisite. Heās not ānot dead, only meditatingā, heās dead by definition but also, and this is the thing thatās noteworthy, dead and mummified in the position he had in death, which was meditating. Tukdam.
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John, Iām only trancing.
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Well, in Tibetan terms, if he hasnāt achieved the transcendent body of heavenly light by now, heās probably not going to. But it wouldnāt hurt to sprinkle some saffron on him and stick him back in an unused cave or monastery cupboard for another 300 years, just in case heās a bit slow on the job.
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The good news is that he has a pretty good shot of keeping up his deep meditation.
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Kidding aside, this reminds me of a fascinating thing I never got a chance to see in Japan:
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Darn it, I wanted to say thatā¦ 
Came for this, left satisfied 
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His enlightened aura just induced in me a sudden inexplicable craving for beef jerky.
Barry Kerzin. Barry!?
As I understand it, a monk in tukdam isnāt considered alive, exactly, just not quite dead. Itās more like the physical body has stopped working, but the spirit is still present enough to prevent some decay. At least according to this, youāre not supposed to touch someone in that state or make noise around them, which likely precludes running medical tests on people supposedly in this state.
Damn. How did I miss the juxtaposition of the headline with the photo?
āMummified monk not dead, just trancingā
