Encyclopedia of Buddhism

bolster their authority, and the large crowds that at-
tended such processions gave evidence of faith among
the populace. Indeed, a famous tract by Han yu
(768–824) argued forcefully against welcoming the
relic of the Buddha’s finger from FAMENSIinto the Chi-
nese imperial palace in 819. Han yu demonstrated in
his criticisms of believers’ behavior the extent of their
devotion, whereby some burned their heads and fin-
gers, and discarded clothing and large numbers of
coins. On the occasion of another procession of Bud-
dha relics in 873, worshippers variously offered their
arms, fingers, and hair in acts that symbolically
matched the bodily sacrifices that S ́a
kyamuni as a
bodhisattva had made in the ja
takatales.

In Japan, the royal government, in a gesture simi-
lar to that of Emperor Wen, sponsored the presenta-
tion of Buddha relics throughout the land. In this case,
however, the offerings were made to celebrate royal ac-
cession to shrines of the native deities (kami), with relic
veneration being incorporated directly into cults asso-
ciated with royal authority. Moreover, clerics of the
Shingon school held an annual royal rite in the palace
Shingon’in chapel in veneration of the relics brought

back by Ku
kai, suggesting that monastic Buddhists, to-

gether with the royal family and aristocracy, saw the

veneration of relics as key to the annual renewal of the

ruler’s body and of the realm. At the same time, pos-

session of the relics legitimized the Shingon lineage in-

ternally and vis-à-vis the royal family. By at least the

thirteenth century, the relics of Shingon were seen as

indispensable to royal authority; by the fourteenth cen-

tury, clerics of both the Shingon and Tendai tantric

traditions identified the wish-fulfilling jewel with the

regalia of the sovereign.

See also:Merit and Merit-Making; Printing Technolo-

gies; Reliquary; Self-Immolation

Bibliography

Bentor, Yael. “On the Indian Origins of the Tibetan Practice of

Depositing Relics and Dha
ran
lsin Stu
pas and Images.” Jour-

nal of the American Oriental Society115, no. 2 (1995):

248–261.

Boucher, Daniel. “The Prat
ltyasamutpa
daga
tha
and Its Role in

the Medieval Cult of the Relics.” Journal of the International

Association of Buddhist Studies14, no. 1 (1991): 1–27.

RELICSANDRELICSCULTS

The Buddha’s finger relic, in a miniature gold pagoda. In 2002 it was taken from Famensi in Xi’an, China for display in Taiwan.
AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.