Scan reveals 1,000-year-old mummified monk hidden in statue

A golden statue of a sitting Buddha, smuggled from a temple in China to a market in the Netherlands, revealed an extraordinary secret -- a 1,000-year-old mummified monk.

Researchers discovered the mummy, encased ina cavity in the statue when a private buyer brought it to the Drents Museum in the Netherlands for restoration.

But it wasn't until a team of researchers and scientists did a CTscan -- a comprehensive three dimensional x-ray image -- last year, did they discover the mummy's organs were missing.

The mummy was found sitting on a bundle of cloth covered in Chinese inscriptions, revealing its identity as a Buddhist monk called Liuquan who may have practiced "self-mummification" to prepare for life after death.

The process of self-mummification is a known tradition in countries like Japan, China and Thailand, and was practiced over a thousand years ago.

The elaborate and arduous process includes eating a special diet and drinking a poisonous tea so the body would be too toxic to be eaten by maggots. The few monks that were able to successfully complete the process were highly revered.

The statue is now housed in the National Museum of Natural History in Budapest and will move to Luxembourg in May as a part of an international tour.