A gold statue of Buddha housed at Hungary's Natural History Museum has been found to contain the mummified body of an ancient Chinese monk believed to be nearly 1,000 years old.

Monika Kiss Stefan of Hungary's Natural History museum where the Buddha is housed, said the Dutch owner had no idea of what his statue was hiding. 

"He lent it to the Dutch Assen museum for an exhibit and they put it under a CT machine, x-rayed it and discovered that the statue hides a mummy of a monk."

The monk appears to have prepared meticulously for his own death.

Investigators say he had eaten only seeds and the root of a poisonous plant in the belief it would repel maggots. They say, that in accordance with known tradition he probably spent 1,000 days in a pit meditating until he finally passed away...going through self-mummification in the process.

Museum curator, Ildiko Pap says he does not believe it was suicide. 

"It's only us and those who lived later who considered this to be suicide. It had several reasons. Basically, not everyone was allowed to try this, only Buddhist masters who reached a very high level could do this with a permit. Their own reason was to reach a certain level, to reach 'nirvana' this way.

The mummy is one of more than 20 who died this way, known to exist..but it's the first to be found inside a statue.

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