a buddha statue containing a mummified monk was actually stolen from a village temple twenty years ago, chinese experts have claimed the mummified remains were discovered at the end of february after a private owner took the statue to a museum in the netherlands to be restored while there erik bruijn, an buddhism expert, discovered the 1,000 year old mummy and said it was buddhist master zhang liuquan, people's daily online reported scroll down for video  a buddha statue (left) containing a mummified monk (right) was actually stolen from a village temple twenty years ago, chinese experts have claimed  the cultural relics bureau in fujian has now found photos and historical records suggesting the statue was actually stolen from eastern china in 1995 the private owner, who wants to stay anonymous, bought the relic in 1996 at a european market during the ct scan mr bruijn was particularly shocked to discover the monk's organs had been removed rolls of paper scraps covered in chinese writing were also found if the cultural relics bureau succeed in its investigation it will seek repatriation of the statue the mummified remains were discovered at the end of february after a private owner took the statue to drents museum at the meander medical centre in the netherlands for restoration above, the museum completes a ct scan  the cultural relics bureau in fujian has now found photos and historical records suggesting the statue was stolen from eastern china in 1995 above, it is wrapped in white material and examined in february  the remains were due to be put on display at the hungarian natural history museum until may 2015 they have now been pulled after drents museum at the meander medical centre in the netherlands, which completed the ct scan and endoscopy, requested they were no longer used many practising buddhists believe that mummies  are not actually dead but are in an advanced state of meditation to achieve mummification monks drank a special herbal tea believing it could stop their corpse from rotting for thousands of years, experts from fuzhou ethnicity and religion bureau said in january mummified remains of a man apparently meditating in the lotus position were unearthed in mongolia erik bruijn, an buddhism expert, determined the mummy dated back to the 11th or 12th century and was buddhist master liuquan above, a scientist examines the base of the statue  the human relic is believed to be around 200 years old and was preserved in animal skin initial speculation is that it could be dashi dorzho itigilov, a teacher of lama dashi dorzho itigilov, born in 1852, was a buryat buddhist lama of the tibetan buddhist tradition, best known for the lifelike state of his body
liuquan netherlands buddhist china cultural relics bureau the end of february the 11th century 1995
mummified remains in the statue discovered at the end of february  private owner took them to a museum in the netherlands to be restored  study determined the 11th century mummy was buddhist master liuquan  stolen from village in eastern china in 1995, cultural relics bureau claims 