THE BUDDHA AS TEACHER 49tion-up to the ninth, the cessation of perception and feeling (Strong EB, sec.
3.5.7). Then he returned, step-by-step, to the first dhyana, and then up again
to the fourth, passing into parinirvaJ].a from an intermediate reflective stage just
outside of the fourth dhyana, the same level at which he had gained Awaken-
ing. The Buddha thus died in meditative calm, as he had learned to live.
The texts state that earthquakes and thunder marked the moment of death.
Brahma and Sakra recited stanzas, and the monks (except for the arhants, who
understood the Deathless) burst into lamentation until the Buddha's cousin
Anuruddha reminded them that doing so was not in keeping with the teach-
ing of the impermanence of all conditioned things.
The people of Kusinagari came the next day and held a six-day wake for
the Blessed One. They danced, sang, made music, and offered garlands and
scents. The body was wrapped in alternate layers of cloth and raw cotton bat-
ting and placed in an iron bier filled with oil. On the seventh day, eight chiefs
of the Malia clan carried the bier in through the north gate and out the east
gate of the town to a tribal shrine. There they cremated the body.
When the Malians had asked Ananda how they should treat the remains of
the Tathagata, he replied, "Like those of a king of kings. Cremate the body
and build a stupa at the crossroads to enshrine the relics." The stupa is a form
of the round barrow, the tomb ofBronze Age chiefs and kings from Ireland to
Japan. India at that time was dotted with caitya (shrines) and stupas of deceased
holies, at which people offered worship and veneration in hope of gaining ac-
cess to the paranormal powers they felt the relics possessed.
The Buddha is reported to have said, "What is there in seeing this
wretched body? Whoever sees Dharma, sees me; whoever sees me, sees
Dharma." Nevertheless, the division of his cremated physical remains devel-
oped into an enduring and widespread cult centered on his relics. In fact, the
single stupa Ananda advocated was disrupted by a dispute over who should get
the relics. After almost coming to blows, the eight claimants agreed to each
have a share. 'Gandharan artists portrayed the cremation of the Buddha, the di-
vision of his relics, and the return home of the separate relic bearers. The de-
posit of relics in reliquaries (special containers) is evidenced by the earliest
Buddhist archaeological remains, extending back at least to the third century
B.C.E. at Sanchi. Such relics were believed to empower or activate the stupa in
which they were placed. One Mahayana text states that, after the perfection of
wisdom, relics of the Buddha are the most valuable thing in the cosmos.
Archaeologists have discovered reliquaries near Sanchi dating from the sec-
ond century B.C.E.; one made of mottled steatite is in the form of an abstract
stiipa. In Gandhara, reliquaries from the first century C.E. have been found,
one in the form of a crystal goose, perhaps a reference to transcendence, an-
other in a pear shape. Crystal reliquaries in Sri Lanka date from the early cen-
turies c.E. Other reliquaries were made of copper; one made of gold set with
garnets has been found. These various forms contained pieces of bone or a
variety of other objects, both precious and not.
The cult of relics began early and continues today. Asoka is said to have
opened the earlier stiipas -and distributed the Buddha's relics among 84,000