Buddha relic likely to be displayed at state museum

BonsaiDoug

The Indian, Express, Aug 16, 2012

New Delhi, India -- A bone relic, believed to be a tooth of Lord Buddha, kept in the strong room of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) office here since 1985, is likely to be displayed at the state museum soon, Odisha Tourism minister Maheswar Mohanty said.

"ASI authorities have assured us that they will hand over the bone relic to the state government soon," Mohanty said

The relic, considered sacred for Buddhist followers, was unearthed during an ASI excavation at Lalitgiri, a Buddhist site in Jajpur, in 1985.

"We first found a stone pot during excavation. When we opened it, a silver cup was found and finally the bone relic was seen in a gold cover," an ASI official said.

Full story here: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php

federica

I make that 378 teeth he must have had.....

BonsaiDoug

federica said:

I make that 378 teeth he must have had.....

Well... he was one tough dude.

vinlyn

Yes, as Federica points out, Buddha relics are so common...particularly in Thailand (not sure about other places). Of course, the Thais came up with the concept that Buddha bones and teeth can magically replicate and that after passing into nirvanna, Buddha was in Thailand. While I can't definitively say those things are not true, it sounds more like propaganda to pacify the masses. One certainly doesn't have to believe in all these magical relics to believe in the teachings.

BonsaiDoug

@vinlyn - I'm guessing you would know, but it has always appeared to me that Thai Buddhists, especially Thai Monks, have always been heavily into the "magical" aspect of Buddhism. I'm thinking things like amulets and takruts.

vinlyn

BonsaiDoug said:

@vinlyn - I'm guessing you would know, but it has always appeared to me that Thai Buddhists, especially Thai Monks, have always been heavily into the "magical" aspect of Buddhism. I'm thinking things like amulets and takruts.

Well, Thai lay people are certainly into them. And many of the busiest "markets" for them (but not all) are at Buddhist temples. I think monks from the sticks are probably more likely to be "into" them.

But of course, an amulet can mean different things to different people. I have one -- jade Buddha -- that I sometimes wear. To me it is just a reminder of my beliefs. But there are also famous tales of amulets, including a diplomat who was given an amulet, and then shot at, proving that the amulet afforded him safety.

Beej

Relic worship is strange. Christians do it with their "saints". Ancient Egyptians did it with their mummies of people and animals. Some Amazonian tribes make sacred soup with their dead relatives' shrunken heads. Voodoo priests wear bones. Etc, and so forth.

I just don't get why Buddhists do it. It's kind of contradictory to the idea of impermanece to cling to a shred of some body part when a major aspect of this thing seems to be accepting that "we are not our bodies". It feels like a fundamental contradiction. Unless we're going to extract the DNA from it and reverse engineer ourselves a Buddha, Jurrassic Park style. A Buddhasaurus?

Cloud

Well said @TheBeejAbides.

Beej

Cloud said:

Well said @TheBeejAbides.

You like the idea of a Buddhasaurus?

Cloud

No not that part. Clinging to body parts. Especially body parts of the Buddha as if he was anything but a human (unfortunately some people elevate him to more than human, maybe that's the problem). Might as well stock up on preserved Buddha-poop!

Cloud

@TheBeejAbides, One thing though, I wouldn't say Buddhism is about "we are not our bodies"... we very much are our bodies. If we think this then we must think we're something else, and this is where ideas of some kind of soul come in (that we're really a permanent self within impermanent forms, a view subscribed to by such religions as Christianity and Hinduism). Rather it's about finding no permanence, no self, no satisfactoriness in these forms/bodies. It's just emptiness. All that we are is not-self, so there's nothing to cling to, nothing to grasp. That allows us to let go of craving and clinging.

andyrobyn

Inspiration can be the value, rather than worship and clinging.

Beej

@Cloud - Yes... my reference was a little loose... thank you for helping to refine it.

As far as Buddha-poop goes, I wondered if it vibrates at a frequency of 528 Hz?

Beej

genkaku

Yes! Fershur! Relics and books and scriptures and temples and monks and dank caves and wise sayings ... gimme some of that!

Now if someone would tell me a sure-fire cure for a right knee that refuses to stop hurting during meditation, I will have died and gone to heaven!

Beej

@genkaku - Amputation? Then if you become a Buddha your amputated knee will have magical powers that can be burried under a stupa for Buddhist tourists to visit in admiration of your dedication to seated meditation?

No , but seriously, I have knee problems as well. There is no lotus position that I can do. I just sit cross legged and that has to be good enough, because anything else is impossible for me.

zenff

genkaku said:

Now if someone would tell me a sure-fire cure for a right knee that refuses to stop hurting during meditation, I will have died and gone to heaven!

How about these?

http://www.meditationbench.com/

http://sitincomfort.com/kneechairs.html

(Mods, I'm off topic, I know. Sorry)

Jason

TheBeejAbides said:

Relic worship is strange. Christians do it with their "saints". Ancient Egyptians did it with their mummies of people and animals. Some Amazonian tribes make sacred soup with their dead relatives' shrunken heads. Voodoo priests wear bones. Etc, and so forth.

I just don't get why Buddhists do it. It's kind of contradictory to the idea of impermanece to cling to a shred of some body part when a major aspect of this thing seems to be accepting that "we are not our bodies". It feels like a fundamental contradiction. Unless we're going to extract the DNA from it and reverse engineer ourselves a Buddha, Jurrassic Park style. A Buddhasaurus?

I think you make some good points, @TheBeejAbides. However, things like relics can also be inspiring. For example, I had a pretty good meditation session once while meditating in a room with relics from Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Sao. Now, I'm not one to believe in the power of relics, but these kinds of things can certainly have a powerful psychological effect in the way of added inspiration, etc. Just imagining that I was sitting in front of relics from two of the greatest meditation masters in the last century made me really want to put 110% into staying with my meditation object. I still don't put any stock into things like relics in and of themselves, but I definitely put stock in their ability to inspire us every now and then. Same with things like deity practice, etc.

RebeccaS

I think they have intrinsic power, which is kind of funny because I don't normally go for the woo woo magical stuff, but I really do believe they do. I think lots of things have an intrinsic power, like cathedrals and stuff. Just my opinion

Beej

RebeccaS said:

I think they have intrinsic power, which is kind of funny because I don't normally go for the woo woo magical stuff, but I really do believe they do. I think lots of things have an intrinsic power, like cathedrals and stuff. Just my opinion

maybe they do have intrinsic power, but don't you have that same power? Aren't you just trying to gain access to knowledge of it through meditation? And if a cathedral does have any power it's because it is trying to synthesize something that already exists in nature. (re: Vetruvius) I'm not saying that there aren't focused ways to harness energy and stuff (yay science!), but I'm saying none of these other things are necessarry because it exists inside of you and you just need to come to that conclusion through your own effort. If relics help inspire your effort then that's great but simply not necessarry.

I have a lucky rock that keeps tigers away. It's 100% effective, so far. When I die, will it still keep tigers away?