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 Contents

Preface
Introduction: Sacred Mountains and the Swamp of Immortals

PART ONE. MUMMIFICATION AND IMMORTALITY

1. Natural Mummification

2. Artificial Mummification

3. Incorruptibility

4. The Great Transformation

PART TWO. SELF-MUMMIFIED MONKS

5. Symbols of Contradiction

6. Honmykai Shnin: The Samurai Who Mummified Himself

7. Shinnykai Shnin: The Farmer Who Killed a Samurai

8. Tetsumonkai Shnin: The Priest Who Loved a Prostitute

9. Mykai Shnin: The Boy Who Lost His Eyesight

10. Kmykai Shnin: The Unknown Self-Mummified Monk

11. Chkai Shnin and Enmykai Shnin: Two Monks Who Reside at the Same Temple

12. Tetsurykai Shnin: The Monk Who Cut Out His Own Eye

13. Remnants of a Forgotten Age

PART THREE. RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND SECRET TEACHINGS

14. Buddhist Origins

15. Apocryphal Texts and Holy Wizards

16. Chinese Immortality and the Death of Buddhism in India

17. Kb Daishi and Shingon Buddhism

18. Magicians in the Mountains: En no Gyja and Shugend Faith

PART FOUR. ASCETICISM AND THE PURSUIT OF DEATH

19. 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 IMMORTALITY

26. The Nature of Life and Death

Afterword
Appendix 1. Self-Mummified Monks in Japan
Appendix 2. Chrenji Lineage
Appendix 3. Temple Contacts
Appendix 4. Thirty-Two Bodily Marks of a Great Man
Appendix 5. Sino-Japanese Character Glossary
Notes
References
Index