article_snippet: (CNN)A statue of a sitting Buddha that made its way from a temple in China to a market in the Netherlands revealed an extraordinary secret -- a 1,000-year-old mummified monk.
article_snippet: The mummy was discovered, encased in a cavity in a Buddha statue, when a private buyer brought The mummy to an expert for restoration.
article_snippet: It's unclear when or how a Buddha statue was removed from China.
article_snippet: The mummy was found sitting on a bundle of cloth covered in Chinese inscriptions, revealing The mummy identity as a Buddhist monk called Liuquan who may have practiced "self-mummification" to prepare for life after death.
article_snippet: The process of self-mummification is a known tradition in countries like Japan, China and Thailand, and was practiced over a thousand years ago.
article_snippet: The elaborate and arduous process includes eating a special diet and drinking a poisonous tea so the body would be too toxic to be eaten by maggots.
article_snippet: The few monks that were able to successfully complete the process were highly revered.
article_snippet: We suspect that for the first 200 years, The mummy was exposed and worshiped in a Buddhist temple in China... only in the 14th century did they do all the work to transform The mummy into a nice statue," said van Vilsteren.
highlights_snippet: A mummified monk from China was found inside a Buddha statue .
  
highlights_snippet: Researchers believe A mummified monk from China practiced "self-mummification" 