equivalent to that accrued through PILGRIMAGEto sa-
cred sites like BODHGAYAand LumbinGarden. Thus,
the presence of reputed relics bridged the temporal gap
between contemporary believers and the historical
S ́akyamuni, whose life grew increasingly distant with
the passage of time.
In fact, for Buddhists, the mobility of relics offered
a new mode of relationship with S ́akyamuni, the early
disciples, and later Buddhist saints. Insofar as relics
could be easily transported across long distances, these
objects (like the images and amulets studied by Stan-
ley Tambiah in contemporary Thai Buddhism) were
“repositories of power.” They constituted the burning
energy (tejas) manifested in the body of the Buddha
and other holy beings, as well as in images of them. In-
deed, the transfer of relics to, and their discovery in,
Southeast Asia and East Asia became so common that
one might argue, as Brown has noted in the context of
Christendom, that “Translations—the movement of
relics to people—and not pilgrimages—the movement
of people to relics—hold the center of the stage in late-
antique and early-medieval piety” (pp. 89–96).
Throughout the history of early Buddhism, as well as
later MAHAYANAand TANTRABuddhism, relics of one
form or another were venerated in a vast variety of lo-
cales, and constituted a form of veneration that com-
plemented efforts at pilgrimage.The increasing dissemination of s ́arlra
The categories of Buddhist relics include not only
bodily remains of the historical Buddha and other
saints, but a variety of other objects. For example, im-
age consecration in Buddhism included the common
practice of inserting relics inside of the images.
In works associated with the rise of Mahayana Bud-
dhism, the words of the Buddha as embodied in sutrasRELICSANDRELICSCULTS
A monk carries a miniature stupa containing a tooth believed to have been the Buddha’s. It was put on display in Taiwan in 1998.
Here it is escorted from the airport by an official party led by the Taiwanese prime minister. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by
permission.