were represented as s ́arlraor dhatu.As the Mahayana
came to prioritize worship of “the book” as manifest-
ing the presence of the Buddha, sutras as relics came
to be considered superior to physical remains. More-
over, insofar as the practice of venerating bodily relics
had developed earlier and was historically dominant,
the discussions of relics in sutras of the early and mid-
dle Mahayana were ambivalent, both antagonistic to-
ward the practice and modeling it. Scriptures such as
the early Astasahasrikaprajñaparamita-sutra(Perfec-
tion of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines) thus stressed the fun-
damental importance of relic veneration, while at the
same time emphasizing that because sutras are the
dharma of the Buddha, their veneration is, ultimately,
superior to that of physical remains.
In this context, such “dharma” relics came to be in-
serted in stupas throughout Asia by the early centuries
of the common era. In most cases, only portions of the
scripture were included. The verse most often en-
shrined described PRATITYASAMUTPADA(DEPENDENT
ORIGINATION): “Those dharmas which arise from a
cause: the Tathagata has declared their cause, and that
which is the cessation of them; thus the great renun-
ciant has taught.” Thus, the words of the Buddha,
when inserted in reliquaries, revivified his presence,
and works such as the Pratltyasamutpada-sutrade-
scribed the great merit of inserting such verses even
into miniature stupas.
By roughly the middle of the first millennium, the
emergent Mahayana DHARANIsutras (incantatory for-
mulae scriptures) proclaimed that dharanshould be
deposited in stupas and interpreted as relics. Indeed,
as noted by Yael Bentor, the contents of scriptures such
as the Guhyadhatu equate their very presence with that
of the Buddha and his relics (p. 252). The practice of
inserting dharanin stupas occurred in parts of China,
Tibet, Korea, and Japan, in addition to the Indian sub-
continent.
The Shingon school of the Japanese tantric tradi-
tion, which inherited the practice of venerating relics
from Chinese Buddhism, stressed the importance of
the bodily relics that the founder KUKAI(774–835)
brought back from China. Over time, the Shingon
school developed innovative interpretations of relics.
The so-called Last Testament(Go-yuigo) of Kukai,
from roughly the tenth century, describes how Bud-
dha relics and a variety of precious substances and
herbs can be combined to produce a wish-fulfilling
“jewel” (Japanese, nyoi hoju; Sanskrit, cintamani).
Likewise, some scriptures describe how, in the event
that “authentic” relics cannot be obtained for ritual
use, relics can be constructed from a variety of pre-
cious stones, pebbles, or medicines.Buddhist kingship and the ritual use of relics
As noted above, Buddhist tradition told of the efforts
of monarchs to obtain relics of the Buddha on the oc-
casion of his cremation. Moreover, King AS ́OKA’s con-
struction of reliquaries, and the wealth of literature
describing him constructing eighty-four thousand
stupas throughout the Indian subcontinent, consoli-
dated the narrative foundations for a long history of
royal patronage of relics, as well as for a wide variety
of ritual uses.
The As ́okavadana(Legend of As ́oka) had the great-
est influence on the development of Buddhist tradi-
tions concerning the ideal of the wheel-turning king
(cakravartin) and his relationship with relics. In par-
ticular, the motif of the ruler’s construction and pro-
tection of reliquaries arose out of As ́oka’s effort to give
exhaustively to the Buddhist community, and the cen-
terpiece of his actions is his construction of stupas. As
a wheel-turning king, As ́oka is the chief supporter of
the “wheel of dharma,” the teachings of Buddhism; to
fulfill that duty, he cares for the body of the Buddha
in the form of relics. In symbolic terms, as suggested
by Paul Mus, when a king constructs stupas to house
relics, he and his kingdom become a kind of living reli-
quary. To the extent that stupas constitute mesocosms
(cosmic centers for the ritual invocation of the absent
Buddha), the Buddhist king may also be conceived of
as a symbol of the Buddha.
The construction of stupas and their veneration by
rulers and aristocrats continued with the spread of
Buddhism. Rulers in China, especially those of the Wei
of the mid-fifth to sixth centuries, gave elaborately to
the Buddhist community, a relationship epitomized by
the sponsorship of the construction of stupas and im-
ages. Emperor Wen (r. 581–604) of the Sui dynasty
took imitation of As ́oka’s patronage to great lengths,
going so far as to sponsor the construction of multi-
ple stupas enshrining Buddha relics for distribution to
monasteries throughout the land.
Imperial patronage of relic veneration in China, Sri
Lanka, and other areas of Asia constituted both a
demonstration of the rulers’ largess and a response to
the fervor of local Buddhists. For example, the writ-
ings of Chinese pilgrims such as FAXIAN(ca. 337–418)
indicate that the Chinese were aware of the practice
among Asian rulers of conducting relic processions toRELICSANDRELICSCULTS