ROSEMEAD, Calif. — Katherine Nguyen stood with hands folded and head bowed at the altar of a Buddhist temple in Southern California.
Before her were tooth and finger bone relics believed to belong to Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism who is said to have attained enlightenment in India about 2,500 years ago.
“To be able to see the Buddha, to get close to him and feel the energy — it’s very special for a Buddhist,” Nguyen said.
Every Lunar New Year, the Wei Mountain Temple in Rosemead, California, publicly displays what it calls the “10,000 Buddha Relics," though the actual number contained in several glass display cases and miniature stupas or reliquaries is far larger, according to the temple’s founder, Master YongHua.
The collection prominently features bones and teeth believed to have come from the bodies of the Buddha, his relatives and disciples. It also includes numerous shariras — colorful pearl- or crystal-like objects said to have been culled from the cremated ashes of Buddhist masters and the Buddha.
Relics in Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity are venerated as links to the saints or Christ, while Buddhist relics are primarily seen as living, active sources of blessings imbued with supernatural qualities. It's believed they can appear on their own, grow or even multiply, which is how Buddhists often explain the mystery of why there are so many spread across the world. Relics of the Buddha or revered monks are typically enshrined in a stupa — a sacred, dome-shaped monument that Buddhists also use for meditation and pilgrimage.
Belief in relics is a matter of faith
At the Rosemead temple, the teeth and finger bone relics are significantly larger than those in the average human body. YongHua said that's because they have “grown” over the years. The tooth relic, he said, produces “baby shariras,” the multicolored crystals believed to have multiplied and filled several containers in their exhibit.
Most Buddhist sects acknowledge the spiritual significance of relics even if some teachers have tried to shift the focus to Buddha's teachings that emphasize mindfulness and kindness. Relics can be found in every country where Buddhism has a deep history: India, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand. In temple and monastic settings, the authenticity of these items is rarely questioned; spiritual leaders avoid subjecting them to scientific tests over worries that it might strip them of what makes them extraordinary.
Over the years, there have been many reports of fake tooth and bone relics as well as manufactured acrylic shariras flooding markets in Asia and online shopping platforms, often sold with falsified authenticity certificates.
Singapore's Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum houses a tooth relic said to have been recovered from the Buddha's funeral pyre in a giant stupa fashioned from 705 pounds (320 kilograms) of gold. That relic came under scrutiny in 2007 after dental experts pointed out that the 3-inch (7.5 centimeter) tooth's characteristics were incompatible with the dimensions of a human tooth and most likely belonged to a cow or a buffalo. The temple's abbot, the Venerable Shi Fazhao, said at the time that he had never questioned its authenticity and “if you believe it's real, it's real.”
YongHua says the main purpose of the relics donated to the Rosemead temple about 14 years ago by a collector is to inspire faith. He has no doubts about their ethereal nature.
“I have seen them multiply with my own eyes,” he said. “They move on their own, they levitate. ... I’ve seen people get cured of various ailments just by being in their presence."
John Strong, professor emeritus of religion at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, wrote the book “Relics of the Buddha" in 2004. He said the earliest accounts of Buddha’s funeral are found in Pali texts dating from about the 2nd century B.C.E. Later commentaries describe the relics that came out of the Buddha’s ashes as glittering jewels — some as small as mustard seeds and others resembling gems or golden nuggets.
Theories abound about what generates these relics and why, Strong said, adding that they do serve the important purpose of connecting Buddhists to the Buddha, who is “essentially absent” because he became enlightened and liberated from the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation.
Relics are signs of a spiritually realized yogi
Geshe Tenzin Zopa, a Tibetan monk and educator, said relics are “the most precious, most sacred, most powerful holy objects in our understanding.” As a young monk in Nepal, he believes he saw his teacher, Geshe Lama Konchog — who was recognized as a realized yogi by the Dalai Lama — generate relics as his body was being cremated. The guru died in October 2001.
Zopa said he observed pearl-like relics popping out of the crematorium “like popcorn.” He said senior monks advised that the structure be sealed and left undisturbed for three days. When they returned, disciples found hundreds of relics and to their shock, the guru’s intact heart, tongue and eyes, Zopa said.
“I’d never seen anything like that in my life. It was truly a miracle,” he said. It's widely believed the relics later multiplied; most are enshrined in a memorial stupa at Kopan monastery in Nepal.
For students of yogis, looking for relics in cremains is not a morbid fascination, but an act of unshakeable faith and an expectation that their guru would leave behind a message — a physical sign of their spiritual realization, Zopa said. They're not easy to produce either.
“We believe that the relics are left behind due to the kindness of these holy gurus for the sake of us sentient beings to collect merit and purify ourselves,” Zopa said. “One has to make very strong and extensive prayers and preserve pure morality for many lifetimes in order to create the causes that produce relics.”
Not all Buddhist teachers view relics the same way
In Southern California, at the U.S. headquarters for the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order, the Venerable Hui Ze explained that their founder, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, taught his followers not to solely focus on relics.
“Our venerable master emphasized Humanistic Buddhism — how we can bring Buddha's teachings into our daily lives with good thoughts, words and actions," said Hui Ze. "He instructed us that relics should not distract us from the path to liberation.”
The order's headquarters in Taiwan houses a Buddha tooth relic gifted to Hsing Yun by a lama, Kunga Dorje Rinpoche, who carried the sacred object as he fled Tibet in 1968 and safeguarded it for three decades. Hui Ze said he was moved by the relic the moment he saw it.
“I had this really intimate experience and felt like I had connected with the Buddha who was here 2,600 years ago, and that connection is priceless,” he said.
Hsing Yun had instructed disciples not to look for relics in his ashes. He died Feb. 5, 2023, at age 95. Following the master's cremation, his disciples sifted through the cremains and found several colorful, pearly relics.
But in deference to the master's wishes, they've been left in the ashes to be spread across the order's dozen centers across five continents.
Hsing Yun's ashes containing the relics will be enshrined in the Southern California headquarters during a ceremony on March 21.
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