Amsterdam, Feb 23:

A monk's 1,000-year-old mummified body was discovered inside a Chinese Buddha statue after it was taken to hospital for a CT scan in the Netherlands, a media report said Monday.

pic: cnet.com pic: cnet.com

The body belonged to master Liuquan, a monk who lived around the year 1100 and was a member of a Chinese meditation school, British daily Mirror reported.

Examining the mummy, a gastroenterologist found "all kinds of rotten material, paper scraps that were printed with ancient Chinese characters” where once had been organs, a hospital spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The sculpture is on display at an exhibition at Drents Museum in the Netherlands.

The finding follows the discovery of a 200-year-old mummified monk in Mongolia. Some argue that the monk is "not dead" but just in a deep meditative state. (IANS)