RELICS AND RELICS CULTS
Relic veneration has been virtually ubiquitous in the
history of Buddhist traditions. The reputed remains of
the historical Buddha, as well as those of other BUD-
DHAS, BODHISATTVAS, and even DISCIPLES OF THEBUD-
DHA, have been the objects of WORSHIPin a variety of
locations and eras. Such remains have usually taken
the form of granulated ashes or bones, and have often
been seen as possessing a sheen similar to, if not iden-
tical with, JEWELS. In some contemporary Buddhist tra-
ditions, believers search for relics among the cremated
remains of deceased masters; if found, such remains
will sometimes be divided for distribution among af-
filiated monasteries.
Meaning and early historical context
The term that is usually used to refer to relics in San-
skrit Buddhist literature is ́ars lra,which refers to the
body. Less frequently, dhatu,a word with multiple and
complex senses, is used. Relics have been a focus of
veneration for Buddhists since, it would seem, the
passing of the historical Buddha S ́akyamuni himself.
The MAHAPARINIRVANA-SUTRA(Pali, Mahaparinibbana-
sutta; Great Discourse on the Extinction) depicts the
relics of the Buddha as remaining at his cremation
pyre. Monarchs of northern India vied to obtain the
relics for enshrinement, leading to a dispute that was
prevented only by a Brahman named Drona, who di-
vided the remains into eight portions for distribution.
Archaeological investigations at reliquary sites, such as
Vais ́aland Piprahwain northern India, have further
confirmed that the practice of relic veneration existed
prior to the time of King AS ́OKA(third century B.C.E.).
According to the Pali Kalin ̇gabodhi-jataka,funerary
mounds housed three types of relics of the Buddha:
bodily relics (sarlrika-cetiyam), use or contact relics
(uddesika-cetiyam), and commemoration relics (pari-
bhogika-cetiyam). In general, Buddhist traditions have
interpreted the bodily relics to be granulated ashes, as
well as remains of teeth, hair, and flesh. Use or con-
tact relics were objects believed to be associated with
the Buddha, such as his begging bowl and staff. The
relics of commemoration, a category that presumably
developed later than the others, consisted of images of
the Buddha.
Relics were signs that simultaneously represented
DEATHand the conquest of death. As emphasized by
Peter Brown in the context of the veneration of saints’
relics in Western Mediterranean Christendom of the
third to sixth centuries, the reputed remains of saints
provided believers with hope; the presence of the relic,
as an instantiation of the “special dead,” provided a
kind of proof of existence beyond death and alleviated
anxieties concerning what seemed to be radical fini-
tude. For Buddhists, relics, especially those of the his-
torical Buddha, served as a sign of death and the
subjugation of death.On the one hand, the Buddha was subject to the
universal law of ANITYA(IMPERMANENCE), like all other
beings. Moreover, relics, like the living community of
MONKS, constituted a “field of merit,” so that making
offerings to relics and reliquaries enabled believers to
accumulate great merit (punya). Indeed, a conceptual
relationship existed in Buddhist literature between
relic veneration and the actions of the Buddha during
previous lives as a BODHISATTVA. In particular, JATAKA
tales describe acts of giving on the part of the bo-
dhisattva, such as the offering of his body or other
valuable objects on behalf of other beings, which
served as a model of ideal giving. Thus, sites associated
with the offering of the bodhisattva’s body became lo-
cations for construction of relic STUPAs, and Buddhist
literature depicted the construction of reliquaries in re-
sponse to such actions. In fact, homilies that invoked
tales of the Buddha’s sacrifice were probably made at
stupas in order to encourage believers to give lavish of-
ferings to reliquaries.On the other hand, relics represented the Buddha’s
conquest of death through his attainment of parinir-
vana; they were an index of his former presence. In-
deed, as Gregory Schopen has noted, the relics and the
reliquary constituted a “legal person” because the Bud-
dha was viewed as a living entity on the site and the
rightful owner of objects offered at the stupa. One Bud-
dhist text forbade the appropriation of even a robe
given to a reliquary, warning against its exchange for
money, because no object of the stupa could have a
price. Other writings went so far as to identify the theft
of reliquary property with the five acts of immediate
retribution within the Buddhist community (Schopen
1987, pp. 206–208).In addition, the transfer of relics to increasingly dis-
parate locations made it possible for Buddhists to ven-
erate holy figures without going on long-distance
pilgrimages. Buddhists throughout Asia were clearly
concerned about their access to sites associated with
the historical Buddha, and remains reputedly of him
or those close to him were highly valued. Through the
local veneration of relics, Buddhists could gain meritRELICSANDRELICSCULTS