What does it mean to be alive?

The second and third day with Gereon and his students has been characterized by mummies, rain and snow. In Sakata the destination was worth the walk in the rain. The temple is called Kaikōji. What I called mummies are actually Sokushinbutsu, Buddhas in the body. (There are other mummies in Dainichibo and Churenji). Their skin was black and the teeth were in place. They were sitting in the lotus position. They died while chanting. A student, Colin, had researched the phenomenon thoroughly. He explained a crucial factor that allowed them to turn into mummies without any procedure, like embalming, after 5 or 8 years eating just nuts and berries: they were drinking from a source of highly poisonous water (arsenic, if I remember correctly), which slowly changed their metabolism. Once they felt ready, they entered a cave/well and started chanting and ringing a little bell. At some point the monks outside did not hear any bell or chant. After a while they checked.

If they found them dead sitting upright in the full lotus posture, they put them back for 1000 days. Then they checked again. In 16 cases in the whole of Japan the monks found the body mummified. Two of them we could see in Sakata in the Kaikōji.
What made the biggest impression on me is that the lady-priest explained to us that, while e.g. the Egyptians believe that the soul (alive) left the mummified body (dead), these Sokushinbutsu are alive.
Gereon explained that that means that they can interact with the living.
The living can feel something special when they are in their presence, the priest said; they can understand better what they want from life. The Sokushinbutsu can grant wishes.

Each of us received a present from her.
An omamori (amulet) which —inside a nice wrapping— has a piece of the kimono of the mummy. In fact, the mummies receive a new robe every 12 years and with the old ones omamori are made. Another aspect I loved of this temple is that the priest explained the unity of beliefs of Shinto and Shingon Buddhism. She said that we see here the statue of Dainichi Nyorai, the cosmic Buddha; whereas if we were in a Shinto temple it would look like Amaterasu, the Sun goddess. But it is the same.
By the way, if you want to check out a serious blog about Buddhism in Japan, here you are Gereon's: https://www.buddhistdoor.net/features/buddhism-in-japan

On the last day we went to Tendo hoping to get taxis to reach Wakamatsu Kannon (Jakusho-ji temple), where they perform Ghost Weddings (weddings of people who died before getting married), which manifests again a wonderful syncretism between a Confucian belief - you need to be married to be happy; a Buddhist ritual; and the Shinto belief in spiritual continuation. However there was too much snow. The taxis refused to take us and suggested we did not go on foot, since it is too dangerous. We came back and visited the ruins of a castle and then said goodbye.

There had also been snow on the Japanese Alps, which we saw on the train from Yamagata to Sakata (on the other side of Japan from Sendai). In Yamagata the temperature was around -2C. We had a nice dinner in an izakaya. At some point I had a strange mummifying feeling. I thought it was perhaps because of the strong impressions of the morning, but then I saw a thermometer. 34C. No need for nuts and arsenic.