The almost 400-year-old mummified body of a Buddhist monk from Vietnam will be saved from further deterioration, according to the anthropology director of Hanoi's Institute of Archaeology. 

Preserved in the lotus position and coated with red lacquer, the mummy of Vuc Khac Minh dates to 1639 when Minh headed the temple at Duc (about eighteen miles from Hanoi).

According to legend, he decided to reach Nirvana through 100 days of meditation. He asked the other monks to leave him in seclusion during this period of meditation. When they returned, they discovered his dead, preserved body. They covered his body with silver foil which they painted with layers of red lacquer. His body was then placed inside a glass shrine inside the main temple building. The body has remained intact since 1639, though there are a few cracks in the head and legs. 

Other than the details provided by the legend, scientists have no clues as to why Minh's body became preserved. They have studied the body for ten years and they are convinced that it was not treated to any embalming. They have concluded, therefore, that it simply dried out...and rather perfectly, too, for all of Minh's internal organs still reside inside the body. So well dried is the body that it weighs only around 15 pounds now.

Scientists, who still need additional funding to complete the preservation work, will not move the mummy to another location. Instead, they will work on Minh's body in the temple, treating it to make sure that it has not been infested with any micro-organisms. They will then seal up the cracks that have developed, using the red lacquer which they have been able to reformulate using samples from the body.