Ken Jeremiah has written extensively about spiritual and religious phenomena. He lives in Narragansett, Rhode Island, and runs tour groups to Japan, Italy, and other countries yearly.

• Table of ContentsPreface      Introduction: Sacred Mountains and the Swamp of Immortals      PART ONE. MUMMIFICATION AND IMMORTALITY1. Natural Mummification      2. Artificial Mummification      3. Incorruptibility      4. The Great Transformation      PART TWO. SELF-MUMMIFIED MONKS5. Symbols of Contradiction      6. Honmyōkai Shōnin: The Samurai Who Mummified Himself      7. Shinnyōkai Shōnin: The Farmer Who Killed a Samurai      8. Tetsumonkai Shōnin: The Priest Who Loved a Prostitute      9. Myōkai Shōnin: The Boy Who Lost His Eyesight      10. Kōmyōkai Shōnin: The Unknown Self-Mummified Monk      11. Ch¨kai Shnin and Enmyōkai Shōnin: Two Monks Who Reside at the Same Temple      12. Tetsury¨kai Shōnin: The Monk Who Cut Out His Own Eye      13. Remnants of a Forgotten Age      PART THREE. RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND SECRET TEACHINGS14. Buddhist Origins      15. Apocryphal Texts and Holy Wizards      16. Chinese Immortality and the Death of Buddhism in India      17. Kōbō Daishi and Shingon Buddhism      18. Magicians in the Mountains: En no Gyōja and Shugendō Faith      PART FOUR. ASCETICISM AND THE PURSUIT OF DEATH19. Asceticism in World Religions      20. Japanese Ascetic Practices      21. Periods of Seclusion and Cave Meditation      22. Meditation Under Waterfalls and Cold Water Ablutions      23. Abstention from Cereals      24. Self-Immolation      25. Self-Mummification      PART FIVE. DEATH AND IMMORTALITY26. The Nature of Life and Death      Afterword      Appendix 1. Self-Mummified Monks in Japan      Appendix 2. Ch¨renji Lineage      Appendix 3. Temple Contacts      Appendix 4. Thirty-Two Bodily Marks of a Great Man      Appendix 5. Sino-Japanese Character Glossary      Notes      References      Index

“the first English language book on the subject of the self-mummifying Buddhist monks of Yamagata Prefecture of North-Western Japan...informative...for anyone with an interest in the sokushinbutsu this very interesting book contains a wealth of information...fascinating...essential”—Diverse Japan.