MOSCOW, Russia -- Scientists and theologians from around the world are trying to solve the mystery of the incorruptible body of Hambo Lama Itigilov known as the “Buryat Nostradamus”.

About 150 researchers and theologians from Europe, Mongolia and Russia are attending the first-ever international conference “Pandito Hambo Lama Itigilov” underway at the official residence of the Buddhist traditional church of Russia – the Ivolginsky Datsan -- near Ulan Ude.

Hambo Lama died in 1927 while meditating in lotus posture and praying for the repose of his soul. The body stayed in the ground for 75 years. In 2002, when the tomb was opened, Buddhist monks saw that the body of their teacher had not decayed.

The head of the department of personal identification at the Russian Health Ministry’s forensic medicine centre, Professor Viktor Zvyagin, said Hambo Lama’s body is no different from the body of a person who died 12 hours ago.