(Source: undergroundkingdoms)
Sokushinbutsu (即身仏) were Buddhist monks or priests who caused their own deaths in a way that resulted in their mummification. This practice reportedly took place almost exclusively in northern Japan around Yamagata Prefecture. It is believed that many hundreds of monks tried, but only 24 such mummifications have been discovered to date.
Their diet was nuts and seeds for 1000 days, after that they only ate bark and roots while getting rid of body fat, After the 1000 days they drank a poisionous tea made from the sap of Urushi tree.
Finally, a self-mummifying monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would not move from the lotus position. His only connection to the outside world was an air tube and a bell. Each day he rang a bell to let those outside know that he was still alive.When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed. After the tomb was sealed, the other monks in the temple would wait another 1,000 days, and open the tomb to see if the mummification was successful.
If the monk was mummified he was instantly seen as Buddha and put on display. If the mummification wasnt successful then the monk wasn’t seen as one, yet still admired for his trying.
Japan's wartime brothels were wrong, says 91-year-old veteran
SAGAMIHARA, Japan (Reuters) - When Masayoshi Matsumoto joined the Japanese army in 1943 and was sent to occupied China as a medic, he thought he was taking part in a righteous war to free Asia from theFuck you, Hashimoto.
gil won-ok halmoni and kim bok-dong halmoni are currently in japan speaking to audiences there about the experiences they suffered at the “comfort stations”.
for reference, a few posts i’ve written about “comfort women” below:
why i’m lucky to know the halmonis: http://peaceshannon.tumblr.com/post/14292230353/why-im-lucky-to-know-the-halmonis-first-off-i
the wednesday protests (ongoing for 20+ years, yesterday was the 1,075th): http://peaceshannon.tumblr.com/post/14208807748/the-1-000th-wednesday-protest-there-was-a-lot
going to the house of sharing: http://peaceshannon.tumblr.com/post/20780284207/peaceshannon
i kind of want to link that JAPAN IS GR8 post i saw going around earlier with this one.
“
They always show the guys shouting “Death to America!!” Just once I wish the media would show us, I don’t know, baking a cookie. I’ve been to Iran, we have cookies, I swear. Just once, I want the media to be like, “Okay, we’re going to go to Mohammed in Iran” and then a guy would appear like “Hello, I’m Mohammed… and I’m just baking a cookie.
Maz Jobrani, an Iranian-American, on the way Middle Easterners are depicted in mainstream media. (via yourfriendlycomrade)
Lac de Mar (by loveexploring)
Teen’s invention could charge your phone in 20 seconds
(Photo: Intel)
Waiting hours for a cellphone to charge may become a thing of the past, thanks to an 18-year-old high-school student’s invention. She won a $50,000 prize Friday at an international science fair for creating an energy storage device that can be fully juiced in 20 to 30 seconds.
98 year old dobri dobrev, a man who lost his hearing in the second world war, walks 10 kilometers from his village in his homemade clothes and leather shoes to the city of sofia, where he spends the day begging for money.
though a well recognized fixture around several of the city’s chruches, known for his prostrations of thanks to all donors, it was only recently discovered that he has donated every penny he has collected — over 40,000 euros — towards the restoration of decaying bulgarian monasteries and churches and the utility bills of orphanages, living entirely off his monthly state pension of 80 euros and the kindness of others.
Gardens by the Bay is a park spanning 101 hectares of reclaimed land in central Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden.Designed by British architects Wilkinson Eyre and landscape architects Grant Associates.
Bahraini artist, Ebrahim Busaad
The Ring of the DoveThe Ring of the Dove (طوق الحمام) is a detailed arabic treatise written c.1200 by Andalusian Muslim polymath Ibn Hazm about love, its causes, its consequences, and its characteristics.
(Source: isqineeha)
Photos: Kyrgyz People Cling to Tradition in Forbidding Corner of Northern Afghanistan
Photographer Matthieu Paley spent more than a decade photographing the Afghan Kyrgyz people, who live in one of the world’s most remote and inhospitable areas.
Read the full story here
