On The Mummification Of Lang Sharf Analysis

In Robert H. Sharf’s “On the Mummification of Cha’n Masters in Medieval China,” Sharf argues that the importance of the body in Chan’s buddhism is evident in the mortuary rituals like mummification. This ritual signifies the attainment of the fundamental goal of “nirvana” that manifests in the emptiness of form of the individual. Sharf substantiates his claim by drawing parallels onto similar Indian and Chinese mortuary rituals, and by referring to numerous historians who provide elaborate explanations on these rituals. This critique will demonstrate that Sharf does a good job backing up his claim by providing thorough explanations of these rituals through the insights of historians and by drawing parallels onto similar practices and rituals.
Cha’n teachings encouraged this notion and emphasized the disregard of the physical body and any superfluous rituals attached to it. When we look past the ideological formulations however, Sharf makes it clear that it is in the rituals that we see the importance of the body to Cha’n Buddhists. It is in the Buddhist hagiographic literature that we see the phenomenon of “natural mummies” (8) manifest in people like Ho-Lo-Chieh and Tan Tao-Kai. Their physical intactness is seen as testament of their incorruptibility and spiritual highness, thus, the ritual of artificial mummification is seen as an extension of these tales. The difficult procedure of mummification through desiccating of the corpse failed often as seen with the Vinaya master Chien Chen; this meant that the successful mummification of a Cha’n abbot constituted as proof of this spiritual attainment. Sharf substantiates his claim nicely by referring to ample insights of historians that demonstrate the importance of rituals in understanding the integrity of the body to Cha’n