108: Tibetan Rainbow Body & the Christian Resurrection in Analysis (feat. Justin Otto of Gulf Coast Dharma)

Welcome back, folks! This time around on Black Hoodie Alchemy, after another small delay, is the investigation of the phenomenon known as Rainbow Body. I’m also joined once again by my friend and cohort, Justin Otto of⁠Dharma Junkie Podcast⁠ and⁠Gulf Coast Dharma⁠, who served as a great help not only in fleshing out the philosophies of Buddhism, but also helping me pronounce some of the terms!

Mostly found in Tibetan Buddhism, but with strong components also found in Hinduism and the lesser known traditions of Bonism and Jainism, Rainbow Body is an occurrence that is said to happen to enlightened spiritual masters in which, on their deathbeds, their bodies shrink and mummify to sometimes as small as an inch tall. Sometimes, these bodies even shrink out of existence, completely disappearing, and sometimes only hair and fingernails are left! It is usually reported that not only are rainbows found in the sky over the monk’s deathbed while the process is occurring, but that usually the shrinkage of the monk’s body comes with rainbows literally shooting out of it. Often there is also sweet-smelling scents surrounding the body as this happens, and not only has it been reported for thousands of years in different eastern traditions, but it continues to be reported to this day, with the most recent documented account I found being 2011!

The more I researched this curious phenomenon the more I even came across many esoteric Christian comparisons as well. Most notably, Father Francis Tiso has spent decades studying the history of eastern Rainbow Body out of his deep-seated curiosity about what light it might shed on the Christian resurrection symbolism and even the reported experiences of stigmata—where holy men report bearing the wounds of Christ with no discernable reason. And while Justin and I didn’t have much prepared material of our own on this next subject, Father Tiso even brings up the highly debated Shroud of Turin in some of the excerpts we read—which is supposed to be the cloth soaked with the blood of Christ, wiped during his crucifixion.

What are some real accounts of rainbow body achieved in the modern day? If this is real, how can we incorporate this into our daily lives, even if just as an ideal? More importantly, how can science come to verify these claims without destroying the spiritual traditions, and if science can do this, what kind of light might this shed on all of comparative religion as we know it?

There are really no concrete answers here, but both Justin and I found the case for the reality of rainbow body extremely compelling, and we found the Christian comparisons as well as the other religious comparisons to not be without merit! We hope this episode gives you some solid food for thought on your pursuits – smoke weed and God bless!

108: Tibetan Rainbow Body & the Christian Resurrection in Analysis (feat. Justin Otto of Gulf Coast Dharma)

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