It is believed that there are at least a hundred monks who tried the ritual but there are only 24 successful Sokushinbutsu mummification discovered to date. Rumors also spread that the founder of Shingon, Kukai, brought the practice from Tang China as a part of secret tantric practice he learned, and that were later lost in China.
This ritual was satirized in the story "The Destiny that Spanned Two Lifetimes" by Ueda Akinari, in which such a monk was found centuries later and was resuscitated.
© http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokushinbutsu
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