On the trail of the secret: The immortal monk

A Buddhist monk in Siberia has been dead for 98 years. Yet his body has not decomposed, which makes him appear alive to some believers. How is this possible?

By Josef Scheppach

When is someone dead? Until the 20th century, people were considered dead when their heart stopped beating and breathing ceased. Today, brain death is the criterion for death. It is diagnosed when all brain functions have irreversibly ceased. But what should one call the condition in which Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov finds himself? He looks almost as if he never took his last breath, even though he has been dead for 98 years. A mystery to science, a miracle to believers.