Relics Of Buddha Research Articles

Two Buddha Relic Traditions

AbstractThis article surveys some recent work on Buddhist relics, but with a particular focus. Starting with the observation that the distribution of the Buddha's relics in the Mahparinirva sūtra violates the Buddha's own injunction to keep his remains together in a single stūpa, it goes on to examine the fluctuation, in Buddhist legend, between traditions that assert the togetherness of the Buddha's relics and traditions that assert their dispersal. It then relates this polarity to buddhological issues concerning the uniqueness and multiplicity of buddhas and questions about their overlap.

Was there an imperial distribution of Buddha relics in ninth-century China?

To judge from one recorded case, the Huichang persecution of Buddhism in China of 840–44 could have brought a number of relics of the Buddha into the hands of the government, and this might further have allowed the succeeding, more pro-Buddhist, emperor to carry out a redistribution of these sacred objects to enhance his own prestige, as had already been done twice by earlier rulers. But while it is clear that he was prepared to send a relic to Korea as part of a diplomatic mission, there would appear to be no surviving records confirming that any systematic large-scale distribution was carried out at this time. We must provisionally conclude therefore that a later systematic distribution in the tenth century was influenced—perhaps indirectly—by the earlier examples, not by any event of the mid ninth century.

The State and the City: 1988 and the Transformation of Rangoon

modern Southeast and East Asia, cities are most often initial point of impact between forces of state and society. Rangoon (Yangon) , capital of Union of Burma (Myanmar) and its largest city, is a place with many coexisting and conflicting identities. As such, it offers a subject of study with rich opportunities for understanding interaction between military regime and Burmese society in period since State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) junta seized power in September 1988. Although in terms of design modern city (especially Central Business District and townships lying between it and Inya Lake) was creation of British colonial rule, it was not simply a colonial metropolis, like Jakarta (Batavia), Manila or Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Rather, Shwe Dagon Pagoda, where relics of Historical Buddha and three earlier Buddhas are said to be interred, gives city status as a ritual and devotional centre, a place with cosmological as well as political, administrative and economic significance. Rangoon was also site of independence movements during British colonial period that vested it with a tradition of revolutionary nationalism, a durable legacy that post-1988 military regime has found difficult to neutralize. The massive popular demonstrations of 1988, which caused collapse of Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) regime of General Ne Win, came exactly half a century after demonstrations of 1938-39 against British, led by students, nationalist Thakin Party, and politicized workers (the so-called 1300 Revolution, since that was Burmese Era year in which movement took place). During both periods, Shwe Dagon functioned not only as a Buddhist holy site, but also as a public space for political activism. University students established strike centres around Shwe Dagon during colonial period. Aung San Suu Kyi, independence leader Aung San's daughter, made an important speech on west slope of pagoda hill on 26 August 1988, in which she described upheavals of that year as the second struggle for national independence.1

Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan (review)

Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan (review)

The Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan. By Brian D. Ruppert. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2000. xviii, 505 pp. $52.00 (cloth).

The Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan. By Brian D. Ruppert. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2000. xviii, 505 pp. $52.00 (cloth).

Relics of the Buddha

Relics of the Buddha

Buddhist Reliquaries from Ancient India

Introduction: relics and reliquaries early Indian history early Indian sculpture. Catalogue: Sanchi Satdhara Sonari Bhojpur Andher. Appendices: palaeographic chart list of antiquities excavated in the vicinity of Bhilsa.

History and Gratitude in Theravada Buddhism

An inspection of several Buddhist histories (or vamsas) written in the Sinhala language in medieval Sri Lanka encourages us to reevaluate the use of emotions in religious contexts and why people write narratives of the past. This article suggests that the attention given to emotions such as gratitude in Theravāda Buddhist vamsas signals that historical narratives were composed and disseminated to orient the emotional lives of devotees toward the past and to give rise to moral communities in the present. Such texts led “virtuous persons” to understand themselves and their capacity to attain desired religious goals as being enabled by people and events from the past. The Sinhala vamsas that describe how the Buddha's relics were brought to Sri Lanka illustrate that emotions can be cultural products that are instilled by historical narratives to accomplish a variety of ethical, social, and soteriological ends.

Brian D. Ruppert, Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan

Brian D. Ruppert, Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan

Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan. Brian D. Ruppert

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsJewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan. Brian D. Ruppert John S. StrongJohn S. Strong Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by History of Religions Volume 41, Number 3Feb., 2002 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/463685 Views: 2Total views on this site Copyright 2002 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Relics, oaths and politics in thirteenth-century Siam

Recent efforts have re-dated the Wat Bang Sanuk inscription to 1219, long before the Ram Khamhaeng inscription of 1292. Attempts to assess the implications force a re-thinking of Thai rebellion against Angkor by linking rebellion to religious thought, including especially the discovery and public show of relics of the Buddha.

Venerating the Buddha's Remains in Burma: From Solitary Practice to the Cultural Hegemony of Communities

The veneration of Buddha relics and images is a neglected, yet central organizing principle of Theravada culture and religious practice. My essay is informed by a historised understanding of Eliade's hierophany, a manifestation of a universal Buddhist sacred reality that defines and identifies cultural orders at the centers of local, historical contexts. I further rely on Bells' work on ritual and Gramsci's writings on hegemony to describe Burmese veneration of the Buddha's remains in diverse social and religious contexts. These range from the solitary practice, meditation and personal service in the Ananda mode to the Royal mode that defines social hierarchy in public rituals and expresses socioreligious aspirations of individuals and communities through culturally salient metaphors.

Praise of the Buddha's Relics Dogen's Rakankuyokoshikimon

Praise of the Buddha's Relics Dogen's Rakankuyokoshikimon

An Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary of the Time of King Kharaosta and Prince Indravarman

An unusual silver vessel datable to the late first century B.C. bears six Kharosthi inscriptions which record its successive ownership by the Indo-Scythian rulers Kharaosta and Indravarman and its dedication by the latter as a Buddhist reliquary. The vessel is in two parts, a base and a cover, the latter topped by the figure of a long-horned ibex. In form it is wholly untypical of Buddhist reliquaries and evidently was originally a wine goblet, similar to others found in Gandhara, which was reused by Indravarman as a reliquary. Its form and function suggest underlying cultural and artistic motifs of Scythian and local origin that were assimilated into Gandharan art and culture. The inscriptions provide important new information on the history of the Apraca dynasty of Bajaur, including the names of several previously unknown persons, and on their relationship with the Indo-Scythian king Kharaosta. The connection with the latter raises chronological questions which call into doubt previously established notions about him and also seem to require a considerably earlier date for the Mathura lion capital inscriptions, in which he is mentioned twice, than is usually attributed to them.

When Is a Theft Not a Theft? Relic Theft and the Cult of the Buddha's Relics in Sri Lanka

When Is a Theft Not a Theft? Relic Theft and the Cult of the Buddha's Relics in Sri Lanka

When Is a Theft Not a Theft? Relic Theft and the Cult of the Buddha's Relics in Sri Lanka

AbstractThis essay examines the phenomenon of relic theft in the Theravada Buddhist tradition of Sri Lanka. Having noted the relative paucity of scholarship on this topic, the essay first examines the canonical warrant for the practice of relic veneration in the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta, and identifies a fundamental tension that the cult of veneration poses for the tradition. Relics, as valued material objects subject to human manipulation and possession, would appear to encourage attachment. The canonical passages that deal with the cult of veneration simultaneously affirm the value of the practice, while warning of the danger that attachment to the relics poses. The essay goes on to note evidence, in the form of expanded relic lists in canonical sources, of the expansion of the relic cult and of the need to affirm the authenticity of new centers of sacrality associated with the enshrinement of particular relics. The essay then examines several accounts of relic theft in the Pali chronicle (vamsa) literature, noting that these accounts serve to simultaneously affirm the desirability of relics, and to account for the orderly movement of these valued objects from one location to another. Yet these accounts of relic theft are problematic in that they appear to endorse the practice of stealing, which is a violation of both lay and monastic Buddhist ideals. In response to this problem, the essay identifies two different models of relic theft, noting that one model is religiously affirmed, while the other is condemned. The essay concludes with a brief comparison of relic theft accounts in the Buddhist and Christian traditions.

On the Method and Meaning of Memorial Services for the Buddha's Relics

On the Method and Meaning of Memorial Services for the Buddha's Relics

On the Memorial Service for the Buddha's Relics

On the Memorial Service for the Buddha's Relics

The Legend of the Distribution of the Buddha's Relics

The Legend of the Distribution of the Buddha's Relics

The Visit of the Sacred Relics of the Buddha and the Two Chief Disciples to Tibet at the Invitation of the Government.

The Visit of the Sacred Relics of the Buddha and the Two Chief Disciples to Tibet at the Invitation of the Government.