Narratives of Buddhist Relics and Image

Narratives of Buddhist Relics and Images
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion

Stephen C. Berkwitz
Subject: Buddhism, Art, Architecture, and Material Culture, Buddhism and the “Other”, Prac
tices, Applications, and Concepts, Texts
Online Publication Date: May 2019 DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.587
Summary and Keywords
Relics and images of the Buddha and of other awakened beings occupy important places
in ritual practice throughout the Buddhist world. Their significance and sacrality are evi
denced by the numerous written and oral narratives that have been composed by Bud
dhist authors and storytellers to describe how they were obtained and what makes them
special. Buddhist narratives on relics and images are mainly found outside of the
tradition’s canonical literature, either as discrete texts or as sections in larger works.
These narratives often supply explanations as to why certain relics shrines and images
are worthy of veneration and can be sites for authorizing power and political status. The
written and oral narratives about these allegedly extraordinary objects typically include
material concerning the origins of revered relics and images linked to the Buddha or oth
er awakened saints, as well as narratives that prophesy and recount how such special ob
jects were found in their present locations and came to be worshipped by devotees. Such
textual sources also often associate particular relics and images with the authority of a
ruler or a monastic community that possessed them. It seems clear that the more impor
tant a given relic or image is for a Buddhist community, the more likely that it will have a
narrative that is used to help locate this object in time and space for devotees to under
stand and worship it properly. In sum, these narratives play a critical role in endowing
relics and images with their extraordinary natures and important roles in the devotional
and political spheres of Buddhist communities across Asia.
Keywords: relics, images, Buddha, narrative, vaṃsa, biography, prophecy, lama, Buddhism, Buddhist Studies
Histories of Powerful Objects

Buddhist traditions in premodern Asia display a great deal of diversity in terms of
thought, practice, and cultural expression. In spite of these religious and cultural differ
ences, Buddhist communities across Asia have tended to identify certain relics and im
ages associated with Buddhas and other fully awakened individuals as powerful objects
that are worthy of veneration and protection. The power that certain relics and images
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are held to possess usually derives from their connection to a Buddha, an individual who
has attained nirvāṇa and omniscient wisdom, while putting an end fully and finally to all
the causes of suffering and rebirth in the cycle of saṃsāra. Such connections to Buddhas
may either be direct or indirect, depending on the type of object in question and how it
came into being. These objects are deemed powerful since they can manifest unusual
abilities such as the power of locomotion and the power to generate miraculous visions,
and also since it is believed that venerating these objects brings great benefits to Bud
dhist devotees. It is likely the case that the alleged, extraordinary natures of such power
ful relics and images compelled certain individuals to narrate and recount how they were
found or made, where they traveled, and the various miracles they performed as a testa
ment to their great power.
Narratives about Buddha relics and images comprise one of the important genres of Bud
dhist literature. The wondrous qualities associated with such powerful objects can result
in narratives that appear fantastic and emotionally moving, even though they are often
linked to writings that claim to be historical and therefore truthful. Such narrative texts
supply devotees (and scholars) with the stories about relics and images so that they may
be properly understood and venerated by Buddhist adherents in different lands. As such,
these narratives work to provide the pedigrees of relics and images that have come to oc
cupy positions of importance in the Buddhist communities in which they are found and
revered. In a real sense, therefore, the narratives about relics and images are the key fac
tors in ensuring that these sacred objects are widely recognized for the power and sacral
ity they are said to possess. The stories they tell lend an aura of authenticity to powerful
objects that people deem worthy of special reverence.
Relics, as powerful objects, are found throughout Asian traditions of Buddhism, albeit
sometimes in different forms and with varying measures of significance. In post-canonical
Pāli literature, a threefold classification of relics distinguishes corporeal relics, relics of
use, and commemorative relics, the latter of which often refers to images fashioned of the
Buddha.1 In each case, some perceived association with the Buddha or a fully awakened
individual who has obtained nirvāṇa suffices to endow a particular physical object with
extraordinary power and cultural importance. Such objects often became focal points for
ritualized veneration, meditative concentration, and political authority in Asian Buddhist
communities. Whether it is a bone, bowl, image, or some other object, anything that was
in contact with the Buddha or which is a likeness of him could be suffused with power
that invites veneration and could cause certain miraculous effects in the world.
Although later Buddhist traditions tend to conflate images of the Buddha with his bodily
remains, earlier views did not always perceive these objects to be of the same nature. In
early Buddhist literature, the body of the Buddha was a subject of some discussion and
speculation, including descriptions of the “Thirty-Two Marks of a Great Man” that reflect
his remarkable attainments in wisdom and moral perfection.2 Despite other discourses
that disparage the loathsome nature of conditioned human bodies, the Buddha’s body is
consistently lauded for its beauty and its capacity to transform those who gaze upon it.
Buddhist thought and practice consistently associate the miraculous nature of the
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Buddha’s body, which is capable of emitting colorful rays of light, streams of water and
fire, and is seemingly flawless in its formal beauty, with his extraordinary attainments of
Awakening (bodhi). The emphasis on the significance of the Buddha’s body almost cer
tainly enhanced the significance of his corporeal relics, but it did not elevate the impor
tance of physical likenesses of his body early on. Indeed, there are references to venerat
ing the relics of the Buddha immediately after his death, and funerary relic shrines (stūpas)
are among the oldest Buddhist monuments to be found in the centuries before the Com
mon Era. The appearance of images of the Buddha in stone and other materials appears
to date back to around the second decade of the 1st century of the Common Era, which
makes Buddha images appear as a significantly later development in the material culture
of the tradition.3
Furthermore, some of the earliest textual references to relics or “reminders” (cetiya) of

the Buddha leave out images or assign them to a lower category of importance. The Milin
da-pañhā, for instance, identifies relics from the Buddha’s body and the things he used,
along with the mounds (dāgabas) erected over the relics, and his teachings of the Buddha
and the Sangha, as objects put forth by the Buddha for those seeking worldly blessings,
good rebirths, and liberation.4 Notably, in this listing of things toward which one should
show devotion, the “relics” include only corporeal remains and objects used by the Bud
dha. Elsewhere, in the Kalingabodhi Jātaka story, the category of commemorative re
minders (uddesika-cetiya) of the Buddha is explicitly subordinated to bodily remains and
objects of use, as they do not have any direct physical connection with the Buddha and
are thus implicitly held to be of lower value.5 Such distinctions made between relics and
images of the Buddha are important to recall, even if later Buddhist communities could at
times view images as of equal standing as relics with those of the Buddha’s body and ob
jects used by the Buddha. This movement to see images as equivalent to relics was not
universal among Buddhists, and it is worth noting that relics were sometimes inserted in
to Buddha images to heighten their power and significance. It even appears that the prac
tice of inserting a bodily relic or a piece of text (a kind of “Dharma-relic”) into an image of
the Buddha was a standard and expected part of image consecration rituals across Asia.6
Suffice it to say that the identity of relics and images has existed in various degrees of
tension in Buddhist traditions. While there is some overlap between these two types of
powerful objects in Buddhism, there remain important distinctions that make retaining
these two categories useful.
Nevertheless, despite occasional distinctions made between objects with direct or indi
rect connections with a fully awakened being, the three categories of relics that came to
include corporeal relics, relics of use, and commemorative relics, if not quite exhaustive,
helped shape the contours of Buddhist devotional practice across time and space. One
could argue further that these powerful objects became the subjects of Buddhist narra
tives, which themselves enhanced the power with which the items were often ascribed.
Written texts and oral narratives containing accounts of how relics and images appeared
or were fashioned, the journeys they took leading up to their current or final place of resi
dence, the powers they possess and the miracles they could sometimes display, and the
benefits they have on the devotees that worship them all contribute to their significance
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as objects of devotion in Buddhism. Thus, rather than adjudicating any ontological claims
made about relics and images as objects of power in themselves, we will approach the
subject by examining the narratives composed about such objects and analyzing what
roles these written and oral accounts perform in attributing (or, as some might say, ac
knowledging) the power and agency of special objects connected to the Buddha and other
awakened individuals. These texts will be categorized in terms of narratives of affinity
that link certain objects to awakened beings, narratives of prediction that demonstrate
how a relic or image was destined to find its way to a particular location, narratives of
glorification that emphasize the extraordinary qualities of awakened beings and the ob
jects associated with them, and narratives of authority that establish the significance of
the ruler or monastic community that possesses a relic or image.
Narratives of Affinity
In order for relics and images to be seen as special and powerful objects, they need some
sort of story or myth that bestows them with their extraordinary identity. These narra
tives can take the form of written texts, oral traditions, or some combination of the two.
In East Asia, stories of relics and images are typically included as sections in other texts,
but in South and Southeast Asia these narratives can also often form the basis of com
plete works. In Theravāda traditions found in South and Southeast Asia, discrete literary
genres known in Pāli as vaṃsas, and in vernacular languages as vaṁśas, tamnans, and
thathanawins, among other terms, were used to compile and circulate narratives about
relics and images. These works have long been called, somewhat misleadingly, “chroni
cles,” due to their concerns with relating past events in a chronological structure. Howev
er, whereas chronicles generally possess an open-ended structure whereby new events
are recorded and added to the list of older ones by multiple authors, Buddhist vaṃsas and
related works frequently assume the form of a “history” with a single author and a narra
tive framework with a discernible beginning, middle, and end.7 An important exception to
this rule is the Mahāvaṃsa (Great chronicle), an open-ended, Pāli text that was begun
around the beginning of the 6th century CE in Sri Lanka and has been periodically ex
tended through the centuries to the early 21st century. Many other Theravāda histories
relate narratives about relics and images without being repeatedly extended by later au
thors.
The vaṃsas and related works comprise a major literary genre in Theravāda Buddhist tra
ditions, drawing attention and importance to various relics and images as powerful ob
jects worthy of veneration. Among the many works containing narratives of relics and im
ages from premodern Southern Asia, one could cite from Sri Lanka, the Mahāvaṃsa,
Mahābodhivaṃsa (History of the great Bodhi tree), Thūpavaṃsa (History of the relic
shrine), Dāṭhāvaṃsa (History of the tooth relic), and Dhātuvaṃsa (History of the [fore
head bone] relic), with the latter works having been composed in Pāli between roughly
the 10th and 13th centuries. Most of these Pāli relic vaṃsas were subsequently translated
and expanded in the Sinhala language between the 13th and 14th centuries in Sri Lanka.8
Related works were composed later in Myanmar, such as the 19th-century Sāsanavaṃsa
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(History of the Buddha’s Dispensation) and the Chakesadhātuvaṃsa (History of the six
hair relics) of an unknown date in Pāli, along with the late 18th-century Vaṃsadīpanī
(Treatise on the lineage of elders) in Burmese. Thailand also has numerous works in this
vein, including the 15th-century Cāmadevīvaṃsa (History of Queen Cāma) and the 16th-
century Jinakālamālīpakaraṇaṃ (Sheaf of garlands of the epochs of the conqueror). Other
historical narratives that mention relics and images, with or without a Pāli antecedent,
appear in the vernacular languages used by Buddhists in Southern Asia.9 Some of these
texts are more centrally focused on a particular relic or image, while others contain more
diverse narratives that deal with a variety of subjects.
One of the distinguishing features of these Theravāda vaṃsa texts is their tendency to
connect local events and places to the life story of Gautama Buddha and the origins of the
Buddhist community of monastics and devotees in India. These texts often discuss events
related to kings and the Sangha while narrating accounts of how particular relics and im
ages of the Buddha came to be enshrined in local settings. In doing so, these Buddhist
narratives work to extend the Buddha’s biography beyond his previous lives and his ca
reer as an “Awakened One.” The accounts of various relics and images serve to continue
his story beyond the final cessation (parinirvāṇa) of his life in saṃsāra, through the in
stantiation of some aspects of his power and presence in relics and images that are di
rectly connected to him. John S. Strong has described relics in this narrative work as “ex
tensions of the Buddha’s biography,” wherein the story of his career is brought forward
and sustained by activities and adventures concerning his relics.10 Stories of relics be
come linked through narratives with different episodes of the Buddha’s life story. These
accounts reflect aspects of the Buddha’s powers and virtues, while evoking or inserting
incidents into his biography that are variously recalled and celebrated by Buddhists in lat
er times and distant places. The same biographical process holds true with certain extra
ordinary images of the Buddha. Juliane Schober has similarly noted how a Buddha image
can extend the life of the Buddha to fit local cosmologies wherein devotees may partici
pate in the ritual construction of the Buddha’s ongoing biography.11 Buddha images that
have been narratively linked with the living Buddha may also, in this way, extend his story
so as to incorporate Buddhist devotees into an ongoing account of how his Awakening set
in motion a series of events that spread his Dharma and helped beings obtain higher spir
itual attainments even after his passing away.
Narratives that describe relics and images as powerful objects are equally present and
valued in many Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions and the communities of Buddhist
devotees that practice them. As a consequence, stories about the origins, effects, and en
shrinement of relics and images have also been composed and transmitted in East Asian
and Himalayan lands. Such narratives help to locate powerful objects connected with
Buddhas and lamas in familiar landscapes. A wide variety of pieces from physical bodies,
material items associated with Buddhas and other awakened individuals, iterations of
speech preserved in the hearts and minds of disciples before being written down in scrip
tural texts, and also images and relic shrines, all said to derive from, represent, emulate,
or incarnate a Buddha’s presence may be considered “relics.”12 The narratives associated
with such relics and images in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Buddhism may not as
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sume as prominent a place in their respective literary traditions as the vaṃsas do in Ther
avāda, but stories about how powerful objects appeared and caused certain miraculous
effects in the world are found in many Buddhist communities.
One of the apparent purposes served by Buddhist narratives about relics and images is to
connect contemporary devotees with Buddhas and other awakened individuals from the
past. When presented in a historical framework, and recognizing the cosmological truth
about the impermanence of all conditioned things, narratives that celebrate beings who
attained nirvāṇa or who fully realized “Buddha nature” must also recognize their eventual
demise. The appearance of Buddhas, lamas, and other spiritually accomplished beings is
held to be a wonderful blessing, but these same beings will also disappear from the
world. Numerous scholars have posited that relics and images function to make an absent
Buddha “present” again in the world after his parinirvāṇa. And yet, as Jacob Kinnard has
noted, the language of “presence” in this regard is problematic for its vagueness and its
theological overtones, not to mention the fact that Buddhist texts themselves rarely offer
this same interpretation for relics and images.13 In other words, it is not always clear how
the historical Buddha or a deceased lama is made “present” by their relics or image, or
whether their devotees would generally hold this view of their “presence” at all. Some
have posited that Buddhists affirmed the living presence of the Buddha in his images as
there is evidence that ancient Indian monasteries often reserved special accommodation
for housing Buddha images and also buried whole or broken images in stūpas.14 Yet even
in those cases, it is not clear whether this “actual” presence should be interpreted literal
ly, figuratively, or in some other manner. Nevertheless, numerous instances of mummified
Buddhist masters of China and Japan from the 7th century onwards, often lacquered and
transformed into icons of veneration, gesture toward the use of images that caused the
deceased saints to be present in the world after their deaths.15
We can avoid making ontological assumptions by instead focusing on how relics and im
ages work to extend the story of Buddhas and other awakened beings into distant times
and places. Narratives in written and oral forms emplace particular relics and images in
ways that make some remnant of those awakened beings accessible to devotees after
they have “nirvanized” out of saṃsāra. These accounts extend their biographies in the
same ways that the actual relics and images themselves extend the presence of Buddhas
and other awakened beings in new forms and in new places.16 It seems impossible to
think that devotees would be unable to distinguish a living Buddha from the relics or an
image associated with one. But those same objects are attributed with special character
istics that other inanimate objects lack entirely. It is precisely those narratives that per
form the work of connecting, first, the relics and/or images with the awakened beings
they represent, and second, those same awakened beings with the devotees who venerate
them and their relics and images.
Narratives often establish these affinities by describing the ways that relics and images
first originated and came to be established in their current locations. The Thūpavaṃsa, in
both the Pāli and Sinhala versions, contains a series of accounts explaining how the right
collarbone, a branch from the Bodhi tree, the neck bone, and a large amount (doṇa/
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droṇa) of bodily relics were obtained and eventually deposited in various shrines in Sri
Lanka. Of the latter, it describes how one-eighth of the smaller relics recovered from the
Buddha’s funeral pyre was given to the Koḷiya clan, but that a great flood destroyed the
stūpa, and the urn of relics fell into the possession of the nāgas (mythical, snakelike be
ings), who enshrined and honored them in their watery abode.17 Later, when King
Duṭṭhagāmaṇī built a great relic shrine in Sri Lanka, the monks sent the novice Soṇuttara
who was also an arahant (a human who has attained nirvāṇa by the teaching of a Buddha)
to the nāga abode in order to fetch them. The novice tricked the recalcitrant nāgas, and
brought the relics back to the human world where they were deposited in the Mahāthūpa
shrine in a great ceremony attended by numerous humans and deities. By recalling how
these relics were obtained, the Thūpavaṃsa confirms that these corporeal remains may
be worshipped in the Mahāthūpa in Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka, for worldly benefits and
otherworldly attainments such as a heavenly rebirth.18
The case of the Udayana Buddha, referred to in numerous Chinese Buddhist texts, repre
sents yet another example whereby narratives were used to establish an affinity between
the Buddha and a certain image. In China, the Buddha image allegedly commissioned by
King Udayana, who ruled during the Buddha’s lifetime, became the subject of several ac
counts describing how this special object was made and brought to China in the early
centuries of the Common Era. Textual accounts of this image are numerous and vary in
their details. However, some Chinese sources include details that describe how this im
age, carved out of sandalwood during the Buddha’s lifetime, was brought to China by the
legendary translator monk Kumārajīva in the early 5th century, establishing affinities be
tween the image on the one hand, and both the Buddha and the monk Kumārajīva on the
other. The enthusiasm of Chinese Buddhists for this legendary sandalwood Buddha image
led to narratives being composed that linked certain statues to this important icon, in
cluding the Khotanese image kept in Pima and the image of Ch’angan, which benefited
from the ascription of an illustrious origin as being fashioned under the direction of one
of the first devotees of the Buddha.19
Narrative texts recounting the stories behind certain relics and images often appear de
signed to establish affinities between the Buddha and those special objects, such that the
relics and images serve to extend an awareness of the Buddha later in time and farther
away in space. In the context of a narrative, a given relic or image may take on some of
the qualities of a living Buddha and can act as a kind of substitute for him. A recurring
message in many of these narratives is that veneration of a relic or image carries the
same benefits as worshipping a living Buddha.
Narratives of Prediction
One of the ways that texts establish affinities between awakened beings and extraordi
nary objects is to cite predictions or prophesies that the former are said to have made
about the latter. These narratives often link the present with the past by affirming that
the retrieval and enshrinement of a particular relic was preordained by the Buddha or
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some other awakened being. Those people who have attained the wisdom of awakening
are held to have cultivated supernormal powers, including an ability to see into the fu
ture. As such, the Buddha is often portrayed as predicting future events involving relics
and images, or at least paving the way for their eventual locations by visiting places
wherein a relic or image would later be established.20 Other awakened beings such as
arahants are likewise charged with the ability to see into the past and future, and they
are counted on to confirm why and how a particular relic or image was destined to travel
and settle in a particular place.
The current presence of a relic in a given shrine becomes connected to its source by
means of a prediction that is said to have foretold how the relic would be obtained and
made available after death. In the case of the Buddha relics that are held to have been en
shrined in the Mahāthūpa, the relevant texts describe how the Buddha himself predicted
that those very relics from his cremated body would one day be established therein.
The Order of monks said thus to him. “Friend, Soṇuttara, the Tathāgata as he lay
in his death-bed addressed Sakka, the king of the deities, and told him, ‘Out of my
bodily relics measuring eight doṇa, one doṇa which will have been honored by the
Koḷiya princes will, in the future, be established in the Great Cetiya in the Island of
Tambapaṇṇi’ [i.e. Sri Lanka].”21
By connecting the eventual transmission of those relics to the Great Relic Shrine in Sri
Lanka to a prediction allegedly made by the Buddha, this narrative suggests that the jour
ney of those relics to their eventual resting place was not only preordained, but that the
account itself is a continuation of the Buddha’s biography.
This same prediction is repeated later by a group of arahants, who answer King Aśoka’s
question concerning why the doṇa of relics belonging to the Koḷiya kings was not found in
the stūpa constructed by King Ajātasattu, and why he should not retrieve them from the
nāga realm.
The arahants replied, “Lord! When a great flood destroyed the relic shrine, the
relics that were established in the shrine built by the Koḷiya kings entered into the
great sea, [remaining] in the relic casket that had been placed in the relic cham
ber. The nāgas saw that relic casket, took it along to the nāga realm called Mañ
jerika, gave it to the nāga king Mahakeḷa, and are making offerings [to the relics],”
they said. King Dharmāśoka, who heard those words, venerated the Great Sangha
and announced, “Reverends! If it is the nāga realm, my [sphere of] command ex
ists [there too]. I will have the relics brought.” The arahants addressed the king,
“Lord! In the future a king named Duṭagämuṇu in Laṅkādvīpa will establish those
relics in the relic shrine called ‘Golden Garlands.’ Therefore there is no purpose in
having those relics brought.” They thus prevented him [from doing so].22
These narratives from the Pāli and Sinhala Thūpavaṃsas extend the relics backward and
forward in chronological time. They are linked to the Buddha and other notable figures in
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the past by the predictions made about the future destiny of the relics themselves. And
they become an enduring sign of the Buddha for persons to venerate far into the future.
A similar narrative effect is achieved in the account of the “Sīhaḷa-image” (Phra Sihing)
found in the Jinakālamālī.23 This particular image is also given an origin myth that in
cludes an account of how it traveled from its place of origin to its eventual site in Thai
land. It relates that a king in Sri Lanka requested to see what the Buddha looked like 700
years after his death. A nāga was summoned, and created an exact likeness of the Bud
dha, which was worshipped by the Sinhala king for seven days and nights. The king had
his craftsman create a dazzling image from an alloy of tin, gold, and silver, based on the
one by the nāga, which was honored diligently by him and his descendants for genera
tions. Some 1,100 years later, the Thai king Rama Kamhaeng came to hear of the won
drous nature of the “Sīhaḷa-image” in Sri Lanka. He dispatched an envoy to request it
from the Sinhala king, who obliged him. On the way back, the ship carrying the Sīhaḷa-im
age was destroyed in a storm, but the image remained afloat on a single plank of wood,
which miraculously carried it for three days close to shore. A local ruler had a dream
about the image, and went looking for it the next morning. After finding it with the help of
the gods, he rescued the image, venerated it, and invited King Rama Kamhaeng to collect
it. The king built a magnificent stūpa with an image house for the Sīhaḷa-image. Later, af
ter the king’s death, the image was captured and moved around various cities under the
protection of whichever king was powerful enough to claim it. Subsequent copies of the
Sīhaḷa-image were made, allowing later kings to send the image to various locations
throughout their kingdoms, extending their own authority in the process.24 The duplica
tion or multiplication of Buddha images and relics, an important narrative theme in its
own right, facilitated the expansion of sacred sites in Buddhist lands and were often said
to occur in conjunction with predictions.
Although there are no predictions included in the Jinakālamālī narrative about the Sīhaḷa-
image, it is noteworthy that this account resembles other narratives that depict the
miraculous origins of extraordinary objects, which then travel along a circuitous and
seemingly predestined path to their resting place. The image in this case is attributed
with power and associated with the Buddha through physical likeness. It extends the Bud
dha biography in a novel way, through the recollection of an ancient nāga who saw the liv
ing Buddha and was able to recreate his image for a Sri Lankan king. The image was lat
er given to a Thai king, and this extension of the Buddha then came to reside in various
Thai locations as a kind of royal palladium signifying the sovereignty of kings. Even
though the image has no direct association with the living Buddha, its indirect connection
to him suffices to make it into an object of great power and value.
Beyond Southern Asia, where narratives about relics and images comprise an important
literary genre, one finds still other Buddhist traditions that contain similar types of ac
counts, albeit perhaps of less prominence. For example, one effort to narrate the connec
tions between Buddhas and devotees is presented in a text called Rig pa rang shar chen
po’i rgyud (The tantra of self-arising awareness) belonging to the Tibetan Great Perfec
tion (Dzogchen) tradition. David Germano has described how a chapter in this work indi
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cates how the Buddha prophesied and left behind certain “supports” for his body, speech,
and mind after his death.25 These supports bestowed to his devotees include bones and
precious (relic) spheres, the canonical teachings found in texts, and his “inner luminosi
ty” left in the subtle heart of all living beings.26 Such an account contained in this Tibetan
tantra supplies a variation on the theme of textual accounts wherein relics of the Buddha
serve to extend his presence in the world, connecting later devotees with awakened be
ings who leave traces of themselves with which the devotees can interact and possess. In
many Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the accounts of relics refer not only to Buddhas but al
so may include recently deceased lamas (awakened teachers) who can leave behind relics
and also extend their biographies by consciously taking rebirth as a tulku (incarnate lama)
who is recognized as a successor to previous teacher and is expected to reassume that
spiritual role.27 In such cases, the written and oral biographies of renowned lamas and
their successive rebirths serve in a similar fashion as narratives about the extensions of
the lives and the presence of awakened beings.
One also finds numerous narratives from East Asia that recount how certain relics and
images of the Buddha were prophesied to be brought and established in lands far from
where the Buddha was thought to have resided centuries earlier. A scripture associated
with the Chinese pilgrim Faxian describes how the living Buddha patted the head of the
Udayana sandalwood Buddha and predicted it would be found 1,000 years after his
parinirvāṇa in China.28 Other Chinese texts describe it was prophesied how a robe once
used by the Buddha and then passed on to his disciple Mahākāśyapa was to be eventually
given to the next Buddha Maitreya when he attains his Awakening in the future.29 The
symbolic notion of the transmission of the master’s robe to his successor carried great
currency in East Asian Buddhism, and thus the appearance of narratives predicting the
same type of transmission of the Buddha’s robe is understandable in this context. Similar
narratives about the Buddha’s bowl, containing the predictions of its travels around Asian
lands, are found in Chinese texts. Faxian recounted a story he heard in Sri Lanka in which
the Buddha’s stone alms bowl moved from Vaiśālī to Gandhāra, before one day traveling
to the land of the Western Yuezhi, and then moving in succession to Khotan, Kucha, Sri
Lanka, and China, before returning to India from where it would go up to the Tuṣita
Heaven and come into the possession of Maitreya ahead of his eventual Buddhahood.30
After becoming a Buddha, it is predicted that Maitreya will be reunited with the alms
bowl of the previous Buddha and make use of it anew.
Narratives of Glorification
Buddhist narratives about relics and images do more than just connect devotees with
Buddhas and other awakened beings. Oftentimes such texts also reveal an interest in glo
rifying those same awakened beings and thus confirming why they should be venerated in
the first place. Since relics and images are often depicted as directly linked to the beings
that they manifest or represent, the presence of these powerful objects speaks to their al
leged attainments and foresight. In other words, the very existence of relics and images
that are narratively endowed with special characteristics also confirms the power and
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compassion of the awakened beings who are said to have arranged for traces of them
selves to persist in the world. These narratives glorify the virtues of such beings through
recounting the stories of how relics and images were intentionally provided to devotees to
worship in later eras. These same narratives also glorify the sources of these special
relics and images through the descriptions of miracles that these objects are said to have
performed.
When accounts of Buddhist relics and images reference predictions that Buddhas and
other awakened beings such as lamas make about their physical traces after their deaths,
they not only extend the religious biographies of these figures but also testify to some of
their extraordinary attainments. The Theravāda vaṃsa literature regularly cites instances
where the Buddha resolves that some of his relics will in the future travel across the sea
and be deposited in a shrine for people to venerate and attain various felicities in their
current and future lives. A clear instance of this narrative feature appears in the Sinhala
Thūpavaṃsa, wherein the Buddha is portrayed as having both the foresight and compas
sion to make his bodily relics available for later devotees to worship.
Because our Buddha did not remain for much time, desiring the welfare of the
world and thinking, “My Dispensation has not been spread everywhere. Taking the
relics that measure even a mustard seed from me when I have passed away in
parinirvāṇa, making relic shrines in the places where people dwell, and enshrining
the relics in caskets, the many beings who make offerings will enjoy the happiness
of the divine world, the brahmā world, and the human world,” he thus made a res
olution for the dispersal of the relics.31
By affirming that the appearance and spread of Buddha relics were prophesied by the
Buddha himself, this account portrays people’s access to relics as being akin to a gift that
the Buddha has given them. According to the text, the Buddha’s resolution (adhiṣṭhāna)
for his relics to be spread and worshipped makes these events possible, and it suggests
that he was compassionately concerned with the well-being of later devotees by enabling
them to worship his relics and thereby to attain fortunate rebirths.32
Similar narratives about the spread of relics at the behest of the Buddha are found in
some vaṃsas from Myanmar, offering evidence for both the glorification of the Buddha
through his relics and the spread of this literary device across the Theravāda Buddhist
world. In the 19th-century Sāsanavaṃsa, one finds a narrative that portrays how a young
arahant named Gavaṃpati, born in Suvaṇṇabhūmi in lower Myanmar, invites the Buddha
to travel to this land by air. While preaching to an eager populace and establishing them
in the three refuges and the five precepts of his Dharma, the Buddha is said to have given
some hair relics for worship and resolved for his thirty-three teeth to be taken from his
funeral pyre and brought back to Suvaṇṇabhūmi in the future.33 This prophecy of the
Buddha concerning his tooth relics is related in more detail in the late 18th-century
Burmese text Vaṃsadīpanī. Therein, Gavaṃpati is told by the Buddha, “‘[After my crema
tion] you shall carry [my] thirty-three teeth [as relics] to Suvaṇṇabhūmi and dwell there.’
Thus, after the parinirvāṇa, . . . the arahant Elder Gavaṃpati, in keeping with the prophe
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cy, took up residence in the city of Suvaṇṇabhūmi and there caused the sāsana to flour
ish.”34 This work goes on to attribute this prophesy by the Buddha to an epigraph that lat
er convinces the people of the region to embrace a party of Buddhist monks who arrive
from Jambudvīpa to bring them the Dharma and its fruits anew.
In addition to recalling how the Buddha resolved to make his relics available to later
devotees, such narratives frequently contain accounts of miracles performed by these ex
traordinary objects. The alleged ability of relics and images to perform miracles illus
trates both the power and agency to which they are ascribed. These special relics and im
ages are often said to imitate the actions of a living Buddha by, for example, possessing
the power of locomotion and the ability to generate six-colored rays of light. The 14th-
century Sinhala Bōdhivaṁśaya (History of the Bodhi tree) contains such a narrative ac
count when it relates where and how a sapling from the great Bodhi tree (Mahābodhi) un
der which the Buddha sat when he attained his Awakening becomes established in Sri
Lanka. Following the Pāli narrative from the earlier Mahābodhivaṃsa, the Sinhala text
describes that in the moment when the Bodhi sapling was taken off the chariot that
brought it to the predestined location of its planting, it ascended about 100 feet in the air
and emitted six-colored rays all across the island and the sky, and remained in the air,
generating serene joy and insight in those who observed this miracle, until descending
back to earth when the sun had set.35 Other Buddha relics are said to have performed
similar miracles, including the Buddha’s tooth relic in the 12th-century Dāṭhāvaṃsa, his
collarbone relic in the Thūpavaṃsa, and the frontal bone relic in the 14th-century Sinhala
Dhātuvaṃsa.36
Likewise, narratives from Southeast Asian lands contain related accounts of the supernat
ural powers that extraordinary relics and images are said to possess. In the Pāli Cāmade
vīvaṃsa from 15th-century Thailand, the text concludes with an account of how a casket
containing some of the Buddha’s bodily relics emerges out of the ground at the invitation
of the local king, rises up into the sky, and emits a perfumed odor and rays of the seven
kinds of precious materials, before sinking back into the earth.37 This miracle, we are
told, was prophesied earlier by the Buddha, confirming once again his powers of predic
tion and the continued powers that his relics are said to possess long after he passed
away in complete nirvāṇa. As depicted in many such narratives, miraculous displays by
relics illustrate the determined resolutions that the Buddha had made for them, demon
strate that they portray a will and inviolability of their own, and even reinforce the sense
of their sacrality and identity with the living Buddha.38 The extraordinary power attrib
uted to these relics and images also served as testimony to the protection that these ob
jects extended to the Buddha’s Dispensation after his passing away. By equating some of
the miraculous actions of relics with the marvels that the Buddha is said to have per
formed in his lifetime, these narratives make relics appear to have lives of their own. In
Thai and Lao cosmology, for example, relics and statues can possess inherent power that
is thought to stem from the Buddha’s Awakening, becoming manifest in various ways
such as diffusing colorful rays of light and causing prosperity, rainfall, and good
fortune.39
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Significantly, in some Burmese and Thai narratives, Buddha images are also credited with
manifesting miraculous powers and the qualities of an animate being. Although we do not
find such narratives glorifying Buddha images in texts from Sri Lanka, the presence of
powerful images of the Buddha is an important feature of Buddhist narratives and devo
tion in Southeast Asian lands. In the 15th-century Thai chronicle Sihingkhanithan, the
narrative on the origins, travels, and duplication of the “Sīhaḷa Buddha” image (Phra Bud
dha Sihiṅg) is recounted. Therein, the image is described as having power and a will of its
own, and the various kings who come to possess it are said to “invite” the image to occu
py various locations. In one instance, the Buddha image “got out of His seat and placed
Himself in the air, and from Him sixfold rays were emanating in all directions.”40 The text
goes on to confirm that the image itself possesses the highest fame and glory and, being
devotedly worshipped akin to the living Buddha wherever it goes, the sāsana
(dispensation) is therefore made to shine.41 The power of this image is attributed to its al
leged antiquity and close resemblance to the Buddha as it is said to have been cast in Sri
Lanka around the 2nd century CE. The text further asserts that while the Buddha was
alive, he foresaw that his images would help to liberate beings after he passes away in
nirvana.42 The Sīhaḷa Buddha image became a prized object that was transferred between
kings and sometimes duplicated, since several local rulers wanted to possess this image
for themselves and their kingdoms.
The movement of some of the region’s most treasured Buddha images from different
lands and across kingdoms underlines their extraordinary qualities. Many narratives rep
resent relics and images as objects that have agency and can travel on their own to
places where they were predicted or destined to be established.43 The Sīhaḷa Buddha’s
journey from its place of origin in Sri Lanka to Thai and other lands in Southeast Asia is
described in terms of both the miraculous and the political. Likewise, the Emerald Bud
dha image (Phra Kaeo Morakot) has its own narrative account of its storied origins and
travels. It is said to have been fashioned out of a precious gem obtained by the god Śakra
according to the wish of the celebrated monk Nāgasena in order to make the sāsana shine
forth.44 This same monk is said to have made a determined resolution for seven Buddha
relics to enter into the image for the sake of blessing humans and gods for five thousand
years.45 The Emerald Buddha was subsequently sent from India to Sri Lanka and to four
different kingdoms in Southeast Asia, in accordance with a prediction that Nāgasena
made. Its travels make up a significant part of the narratives around this image, while al
so demonstrating its influence and popularity as an object of extraordinary power. The
chronicle that narrates the history of the Emerald Buddha also verifies the power of this
image by stating that those who worshipped it had their wishes granted and those who
gave offerings to it were reborn in a heavenly realm.46
Narratives about the Mahāmuni image from Myanmar incorporate many of the same
themes as found in accounts of powerful Thai Buddhist images. It is said that the Mahā
muni image was fashioned out of precious materials by the gods Sakka and Vissakamma
using the living Buddha as a model when he visited the kingdom of Arakan in upper
Myanmar. When the image was completed, the Buddha breathed upon it to impart life in
to it, and it is said that the image even rose to honor the Buddha as his “older brother.”47
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Burmese traditions about the Mahāmuni attribute various prophesies and miracles to this
image, and it also has been prized and possessed various by local kings throughout histo
ry. An Arakanese text enumerates nine miracles performed by the Mahāmuni, including
that its six-colored rays shone brightly in the evening when worshipped by the faithful but
disappeared in the presence of heretics, that it could always expand the precincts of the
shrine to accommodate more worshippers, and that birds would not fly above it.48 Oral
narratives about the image even allow that some miracles performed by the image no
longer occur. It is held that the Mahāmuni used to speak, preach sermons, and advise the
king, but it fell silent with the progressive decline of the Buddha’s sāsana and the in
crease of defilements in the world.49
The theme of relics and images being used to glorify certain awakened individuals and to
possess their own miraculous power is also found in Buddhist traditions outside of South
ern Asia. Some Tibetan traditions identify not only the bones of deceased saints as extra
ordinary objects, but they also recognize the manifestation of ringsel, or “precious (relic)
spheres,” in the form of tiny, colorful spheres that are held to emerge from the cremated
remains of a saint and that indicate the effects of that individual’s spiritual endeavors and
accomplishments in life.50 These special objects are worthy of veneration as some of the
physical remains of a Buddha or a lama. The ringsel of accomplished spiritual teachers
are specifically said to differ from those of ordinary people in their vibrancy and color.51
Not only are the spherical ringsel of saints deserving of worship, but they are also attrib
uted with power and agency that other inanimate objects do not possess. Seen as signs of
spiritual mastery, ringsel are held to be able to multiply if they receive the appropriate
reverence.52 The agency with which such relics are attributed reflect another mode of ex
tending the presence of a realized lama alongside that of intentional reincarnation as a
tulku. As such, ringsel in Tibetan Buddhist traditions can act like a living lama by trans
mitting blessings to followers and replicating themselves over time.53
Narratives of Authority
Many of the same narratives that extend the stories of Buddhas and other awakened
ones, establish affinities between the Buddha and devotees, and glorify the miraculous
power of relics and images, also serve to enhance the authority of rulers and others who
make claims to such relics and images. Based on their readings of vaṃsa and other texts,
scholars have often emphasized how relic and image veneration served to legitimate the
rule of Buddhist kings. Narratives about relics and images of the Buddha often highlight
the power and virtue of kings who sought out, enshrined, and made offerings to these sa
cred objects.
It is easy to assume that the connections forged between kings and relics or images rep
resent efforts by the authors of texts to legitimate the acts and the reigns of certain
rulers. Examples of the authorizing nature of narratives on Buddha relics and images fre
quently appear in conjunction with the transmission of Buddhism to new kingdoms in
Central and East Asia. For example, the sacred Jowo Rinpoche image is held to have been
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brought to Tibet by the Chinese Buddhist wife of Tibet’s first emperor Songtsen Gampo in
the 7th century, formally marking the introduction of Buddhism and validating the right
eousness of his reign. Likewise, narratives recall how in the 1st century, Emperor Ming of
Han Dynasty China was visited in a dream by a golden image of the Buddha, foreshadow
ing the introduction of the religion into China and allegedly moving the emperor to send
an embassy of royal officials to procure the sacred texts of this “deity.” In Japan, narrative
accounts of the formal introduction of Buddhism stress how a Korean king sent a Buddha
image and some scriptures to Japan, where members of the Soga clan that aspired to
reign over the islands embraced the new religion in their successful attempt to seize pow
er. Meanwhile, in the South Asian context, some have interpreted the account in the 6th-
century Mahāvaṃsa of how King Duṭṭhagāmaṇī had a Buddha relic placed in his royal
spear as he marched into battle as a kind of mythic charter to legitimate the violence
committed by the king in the name of unifying the country.54 After the king succeeded in
defeating the foreign occupiers of Sri Lanka, the Mahāvaṃsa went on to explain how the
relic on the spear became lodged in the ground, so the king decided to build a new relic
shrine over it. King Duṭṭhagāmaṇī’s association with this and other relics is, in this way,
frequently linked with efforts to legitimate his identity as a great Buddhist king.
Although there is a plausible argument to be made with reference to equating narratives

about relics and images with strategies for legitimating Buddhist kings, it can also be
come an overly reductive, cynical explanation. Many of the kings who are celebrated in
narratives about relics and images appear as powerful monarchs, individuals whose repu
tations as rulers rarely seem to have been in doubt. Instead, the political interests of
these narratives seem to operate with more nuance. By bringing kings into the stories of
Buddha relics and images, the authors of such texts seemed to be providing models of ac
tion for current and future rulers, outlining a repertoire for the performance of righteous
kingship.55 For example, the legend of King Aśoka and his construction of 84,000 stūpas
throughout his kingdom offered just one important model for future kings to emulate, al
beit on a much smaller scale, when demonstrating their righteousness by building and re
pairing Buddhist monuments. From the perspectives of these narrative texts, good Bud
dhist kings are concerned with acquiring relics and images for the protection of their
kingdoms and the well-being of their subjects, and honoring these extraordinary objects
to earn merit for strengthening their rule in the present and earning fortunate rebirths in
the future. This royal interest in relics and images is evident in textual accounts where
kings build impressive relic shrines and make lavish offerings to relics and, similarly,
where they instruct artisans to cast images or simply seize images from other lands. Al
though monks are often the actors who acquire relics, they usually do so on behalf of the
kings to whom they entrust these sacred objects.
Numerous examples of kings who acquired and enshrined relics are found in narratives
composed throughout Southern Asia. In the Sāsanavaṃsa, King Anuruddha is depicted as
having vanquished the kingdom of the Mons in lower Myanmar, taking possession of the
texts of the Tipiṭaka and a collection of relics that he brought back to his own kingdom to
establish the sāsana there.56 This narrative account underlines the idea that righteous
and powerful kings rule over lands where Buddha relics are enshrined. The Vaṃsadīpanī
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also records events wherein virtuous kings are directly associated with relics. A monk
named Ven. Deibbasek was said to have acquired some relics from the Mahāthūpa in Sri
Lanka for the sake of spreading the sāsana into Burmese lands. Having then met King
Thihathu there, he advised him to ensure that monks lived according to the disciplinary
code and to enshrine and worship relics of the Buddha so that the sāsana would be estab
lished for a long time.57 The king complied and enshrined the relics in the Shwezigon
Pagoda, thus signaling a new capital city for his reign. Such narratives describing how
kings become the custodians of Buddha relics are exceedingly common in the vaṃsa
literature of Southern Asia.
The narratives about the Bodhi tree relic also follow suit with their depictions of kings
who seek to acquire and properly venerate this important relic. Narratives from Sri Lan
ka describe how the great southern branch of the Bodhi tree was acquired by King Aśoka
and transferred over with great honor and ceremony to King Devānampiyatissa in Sri
Lanka, where it was planted and enshrined in the capital city of Anurādhapura. Acting in
accordance with a resolute prediction made previously by the Buddha, Aśoka drew a line
around the branch, which then miraculously separated itself from the rest of the Bodhi
tree and settled in a golden vessel. Before sending the branch off to his royal ally in Sri
Lanka, Asoka is said to have bestowed his own sovereignty over to the Bodhi tree on
three occasions.58 Subsequently, Devānampiyatissa received the Bodhi tree branch with
great honor from the ship that carried it across the sea, and had it conveyed like a king to
his own capital city. Like Asoka, Devānampiyatissa offered his own sovereignty to the
Bodhi tree and made elaborate offerings to it.59 By offering their sovereignty to this relic,
Aśoka and Devānampiyatissa demonstrated their devotion to the Buddha, enhancing their
authority as righteous kings in the process. This narrative, and others like it, depict Bud
dhist kings as intimately concerned with Buddha relics: handling, enshrining, and occa
sionally even distributing these sacred objects for the benefit of their subjects and to au
thorize their own reigns.
The proliferation of relics around the Buddhist world offered numerous opportunities for
kings to establish themselves as pious devotees who apparently enjoy great merit to be
able to accede to the throne and to become intimately involved in worshipping important
relics. Narratives help to establish the pedigrees for relics, describing where and how
they came to be found in various locales across Asia. But these same accounts also help
to establish the pedigrees for kings, linking the righteousness of their rules to the prac
tices of obtaining, enshrining, and worshipping relics in their own kingdoms. Such was
the case with King Kaniṣka, who ruled a vast territory in the northwest Indian subconti
nent around the 1st century CE. In the 7th-century account of the travels of the Chinese
pilgrim Xuanzang, he relates how the Buddha’s bowl relic was once stored in the king’s
capital in Gandhāra, and that Kaniṣka also built a large stūpa into which he deposited
about a hectoliter of the Buddha’s relic bones.60 Xuanzang narrated the legends of
Kaniṣka’s concern with relics, which would seem to confirm that at the very least this
powerful emperor felt the need to imitate the earlier model of King Aśoka, who similarly
invested great effort and resources to possess and house Buddha relics in his kingdom.
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Buddhist narratives, whether in the form of vaṃsa texts, travelogues, or other works,
sometimes identify certain relics as important signifiers for the authority and sovereignty
exercised by kings in Asian lands. The use of relics as royal symbols and palladia are fre
quently described in Buddhist literature. In medieval Japan, for instance, a number of
aristocratic diaries portray imperial rites for making offerings to Buddha relics that had
been acquired by diplomacy and other means. From around the 7th century onward, the
Japanese court incorporated Buddha relics in rites to represent the emperor to the court,
to maintain the safety and integrity of the realm, and to authorize an individual’s acces
sion to the throne.61 The narrative descriptions of these rites illustrate how relics and
sometimes images could be used in medieval Japan to endow an individual with imperial
authority and to mark out the extent of their sovereignty through the distribution of Bud
dha relics to various shrines throughout the realm. Imperial rites transported relics both
outward from the center to bring distant shrines under the influence of the court, and in
ward from a temple treasury to the chapel in the imperial palace.62 The movement of
these relics and their ritualized worship during these ceremonies served to offer good for
tune and protection to the emperor and his realm.
Buddha images too could supply people with the means to authorize kingship and to pro
tect the realm from harm. Important Buddha images with legendary pedigrees came to be
prized by numerous kings in Southeast Asia both to symbolize and sustain their rule.
Drawing upon older narratives that described how great kings obtained relics, a number
of Buddhist texts from Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos singled out how local kings acquired
powerful Buddha images that they established in their kingdoms to enhance the fortunes
of the subjects and lands under their rule. During the travels of the Sīhaḷa Buddha image
across various Thai and Lao polities, this extraordinary object came to be enshrined in a
temple in the palace grounds of the king in Chiang Mai, acting as a royal palladium be
fore being duplicated so that the king could send two replicas to the two major cities in
his kingdom, reinforcing his sovereignty over his realm.63 This king is further described
in one text as declaring, “What a person requires, he obtains, so do I! The statue of the
Buddha known under the name of Phra Sihiṅga has come to me! None of the Jambudvīpa
sovereigns has more merits than I!”64 Seeing his acquisition of the Sīhaḷa Buddha image
as the culmination of his own merit and desire, the king confirms that he was in one
sense destined to obtain the image. Narratives on the Sīhaḷa Buddha and the Emerald
Buddha describe how these images were repeatedly seized and brought to different king
doms around Southeast Asia. Their long and complicated journeys underline their value
as royal palladia.
Various Buddha relics and images have become important objects of devotion, protection,
and representation for Buddhist kings across premodern and modern Asia. The tooth relic
in Sri Lanka has enjoyed a special status as a relic that confirms the authority of a king
and ensures the prosperity of his realm, and thus it should be worshipped and protected
by all rulers in the island. By tradition, possession of the tooth relic is a requisite for a
king to be recognized as righteous and deserving of his rule. In Thailand, the Emerald
Buddha came to serve as the preeminent guardian of the cities where it was taken, bring
ing rain, prosperity, and protection from disease.65 Since it was recaptured in the 18th
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century from a Lao kingdom centered in Vientiane, the Emerald Buddha has become the
royal palladium of the modern Thai state. The image was enshrined in a temple in
Bangkok when King Rama I moved his capital to this new city. Meanwhile, in Laos, anoth
er Buddha image—the Phra Bang—remains as a palladium of the state. Held to have
come from Sri Lanka via Cambodia, the Phra Bang image was ritually consecrated by Lao
rulers during the New Year Festival, an act that has been repeated by high-ranking Lao
politicians in the early 21st century.66 Likewise, in Myanmar, the Mahāmuni image has al
so served as a royal palladium for later Burmese kings in Mandalay, offering a symbolic
means to associate themselves with the reigns and observances of earlier kings.67
Although the nature of royal palladia could change over the centuries, with certain relics
and images replacing other ones, Buddhist kings consistently sought to enhance and ex
tend their sovereignty by worshipping certain physical remains or extensions of the Bud
dha that came to represent the authority of their rule.
The Work of Buddhist Narratives

The focus in this article on narratives of relics and images, rather than on the relics and
images themselves, highlights how written and oral accounts of these extraordinary ob
jects play critical roles in transmitting knowledge and devotion in Buddhist communities.
From the perspectives of many if not most adherents, relics and images of Buddhas and
other revered individuals possess a kind of innate power derived from those fully awak
ened beings and can serve as substitutes for them. One could argue, however, that the ex
traordinary power and special status that select relics and images enjoy are in fact be
stowed, at least in part, by the narratives that recall their stories and reveal why they are
worthy of veneration. Such texts would have had great value for educating people about
the power of these objects and the importance of the shrines that contained them.
Whether these narratives appear in the forms of vaṃsas, diaries, or oral folklore, they
serve the key purpose of attributing power and value to such objects of veneration. The
variety of relics and images that Buddhists have recognized as having some sort of direct
connection with the Buddha has given rise to numerous narratives about these. It stands
to reason, moreover, that if a relic or image were to lack a narrative about its origin,
movement, and powers, it would in all probability hold a lower status among devotees,
under those relics and images about which stories were told and transmitted.
One can identify four notable features of Buddhist narratives composed about relics and
images. First, such narratives frequently serve to establish a sense of affinity with Bud
dhas and other awakened individuals by explaining how a particular relic or image is inti
mately connected with an extraordinary being. What makes a given relic or image more
special and important than other objects is, in part, the narratives that describe how they
possess a direct link to a venerable figure. Thus, relics often represent direct traces of a
Buddha that have been left behind to assist devotees in gaining merit and fostering a
more immediate relationship with that Buddha. Broadly speaking, such narratives may
help to generate religiously valued emotions and understandings of one’s relationship to
a Buddha or saint, which in turn imparts a disposition to venerate that being and partici
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pate in sanctioned rituals of worship.68 In other words, if a relic or image can generate a
sense of affinity between a devotee and a Buddha, it does so by means of recounting some
sort of narrative that locates the object, attributes it with power and uniqueness, and re
lates it to devotees living in times and places that are removed from the Buddha. While
one can assert that a relic extends the biography of a Buddha or other awakened saint, it
requires some sort of written or oral narrative to accomplish this objective.
Second, Buddhist narratives about relics and images frequently incorporate predictions
and prophesies that are meant to show how those powerful objects were in some way pre
destined to appear in the world and become available for people to worship and possess.
When attributed to a Buddha or some other awakened being, these prophecies acquire
the power of a solemn resolution that helps to guide the manifestation and movement of
the relic or image into the hands of a ruler or an entire community that somehow de
serves to obtain it. Given the historical context in which predictions and prophecies must
operate, explaining how a relic or image was obtained, displayed its powers, and traveled
to its current location in the world, they can only find a place within narrative accounts. A
prophecy by the Buddha about his relic or image also serves to frame the actual historical
journey of these powerful objects as depicted in the sequence of narrative events. In oth
er words, these prophecies show how the actions associated with relics and images had
to take place in the manner that they did, since they were foretold by a Buddha or anoth
er awakened saint.
A third important feature of these Buddhist narratives is that they typically attribute
miraculous powers to these objects and simultaneously work to glorify the Buddha or
saint that serves as their referent. Accounts of relics and images are careful to distin
guish these objects from the Buddha or saint to which they refer. There remains a gap,
however narrow, between the relic or image and the Buddha or saint with whom they are
related. Nevertheless, by virtue of their connection to an extraordinary being, relics and
images are often described as manifesting many of the same powerful or supernormal
characteristics. This explains why many such narratives in Buddhist traditions contain
miraculous accounts of these objects. And by attributing extraordinary power to a relic or
an image, that narrative also serves to reaffirm the extraordinary power of the Buddha or
saint to whom the revered object is connected. The intended result is increased faith and
devotion on the part of the devotee who learns about the special qualities of a given relic
or image. Another product of such narratives is to enhance the importance of certain
shrines and temples that possess these objects, giving rise to sacred spaces and, at times,
pilgrimage networks for ritualized devotion.
Fourth, since certain relics and images are said to have an affinity with a Buddha or saint,
and are further understood to possess similar kinds of power, such objects may thus serve
to bestow authority upon those persons who may claim to keep or protect them. In many
narratives about Buddhist relics and images, those individuals who have a proprietary in
terest in such extraordinary objects find themselves to have an enhanced stature and im
portance. Oftentimes, certain kings, monks, and aristocrats who are said to be responsi
ble for a given relic or image are in turn bestowed with greater authority to act in social
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and political fields. In other words, their possession of a relic or connection with an im
age serves to enhance their power and authority. Buddha relics and images, when shown
by narratives to be especially significant and powerful in their own right, effectively dis
tribute some of the same significance and power to those who are charged with caring for
and protecting them.
By performing these kinds of cultural work, Buddhist narratives about relics and images
actually enhance the power and importance of those very objects. The written texts and
oral accounts may have varying levels of sophistication and renown, but they are readily
found in Buddhist traditions from across premodern Asia. They may often incorporate
conventional themes and tropes, but they can still differ in terms of emphasis and objec
tive. While they may not be afforded with canonical status as the words of the Buddha,
these narratives serve to connect devotees with Buddhas—and other awakened beings—
in other ways. The accounts they convey about extraordinary objects help to make them
into sources of greater sacrality and importance. Without such narrative texts, it would
be difficult to imagine that Buddha relics and images would enjoy the significance that
they do in nearly all Buddhist traditions. Because of such narratives, Buddhist communi
ties are able to maintain their relationships with Buddhas and saints long after they have
departed this world, inspiring devotion and establishing authoritative expressions of pow
er in both the objects themselves and the people who care for them.
Review of Literature
The literature on Buddhist narratives of relics and images consists primarily of two kinds
of sources. There are primary texts in editions and translations, and there is secondary
scholarship that examines such narrative material. As noted, some narratives on relics
and images make up the primary focus of certain texts, while in others they are part of a
broader range of topics. Among primary sources with a focus on relics and images, one
may locate a considerable number of narratives published in editions and translations in
Pāli and other vernacular languages associated with South and Southeast Asia. The Pali
Text Society has made many of the Pāli language vaṃsa texts available in critical editions
and English translation for scholarly study. Works published in vernacular languages such
as Sinhala, Burmese, and Thai are available for the most part primarily in the countries
where those languages are commonly used. The extensive corpus of narratives on Bud
dhist relics and images from Southern Asia notwithstanding, the number of studies on
Pāli works besides the Mahāvaṃsa is quite limited. Scholarship on narratives composed
in literary forms of vernacular languages are even less common.69 Given the importance
of these narratives for the spread and establishment of Buddhism across Asian lands, the
relative scarcity of scholarship on these texts is a problem that would be alleviated by
more attention to these works. In addition to published editions and translations of these
narratives from Southern Asia, there are still other manuscript texts containing material
on relics and images yet to be examined.
Page 20 of 28

Locating Buddhist narratives on relics and images in East and Central Asia is made more
difficult by the fact that they are often included as parts of larger works that are more dif
fuse in subject matter. Primary accounts that relate material on relics and images exist in
Chinese-, Japanese-, and Tibetan-language works, among other primary sources associat
ed with Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhist traditions. These texts range from the ac
counts of East Asian pilgrim monks to the diaries of Japanese nobles, and from Tibetan
tantras to the accounts of various lamas and other Buddhist saints in the Himalayan re
gion. Since these corpuses of Buddhist texts are generally speaking vast in size, one may
assume that there are many more narratives that have not yet been subjected to scholarly
analysis. Perhaps the major challenge facing scholars remains locating these narratives
within larger texts and collections of texts composed of diverse subjects.
Throughout Southern, East, and Central Asian Buddhist communities, there exist oral ac
counts of narratives associated with relics and images that are largely unexamined and
understudied. Future research on local, popular traditions regarding Buddhist relics and
images would be desirable to complement the written texts that contribute most to the
scholarly understanding of relics and images across the Buddhist world. Such research
into orally transmitted accounts would certainly require more ethnographic and vernacu
lar language studies. These accounts may in turn offer more insights into the degrees to
which written texts have shaped people’s understandings of the relics and images that ex
ist in their communities.
Secondary literature on Buddhist relics and images has increased in amount and quality
in the years since Buddhist Studies has begun to value material culture alongside canoni
cal and philosophical texts. Scholarship has made great strides in examining these ob
jects as legitimate cultural expressions of the tradition rather than as examples of so-
called superstitious idolatry. By asking questions of how relics and images serve not only
religious but also political and sociological interests as well, scholars in the field have be
gun to acknowledge, among other things, that these objects play important roles in the
authorization of ruling powers, the establishment of sacred places of ritualized worship,
and the economic development of religious centers.70 In each case, scholarly attention to
narratives of Buddhist relics and images helps to facilitate a better grasp of how Buddhist
traditions were spread and reinforced in areas outside of those associated with the
Buddha’s life story. Such narratives may also have functioned to displace local cultic cen
ters and replace them with sites associated with powerful Buddhist objects.
The secondary literature on Buddhist narratives of relics and images is somewhat lesser
in quantity than the studies of those objects themselves. Scholars have published numer
ous works on the subjects of Buddhist relics or Buddhist images as important aspects of
religious practice.71 While studies of this type add much to the scholarly understanding of
Buddhist traditions, they tend to overshadow research into the narrative sources that are
often used to provide details about how Buddhist relics and images were discovered,
fashioned, venerated, moved, stolen, destroyed, multiplied, and subjected to other actions
in different times and places. More attention should be given to the diverse ways that
these narratives in Buddhist texts function as literary and cultural works that also impact
Page 21 of 28

the practice and perceptions of the religion. Further attention to the forms and features
of the narratives on relics and images would not only increase the knowledge of such ob
jects, but would also enhance the scholarly understanding of Buddhist literature itself.
Primary Sources
Accounts of relics and images connected with the Buddha or other Buddhist saints may
be found scattered among a sizable number of texts composed in various genres. Among
such works, numerous texts with narratives about Buddhist relics and images are avail
able in English translations.
Berkwitz, Stephen, trans. The History of the Buddha’s Relic Shrine: A Translation of the
Sinhala Thūpavaṃsa. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Geiger, Wilhelm, trans. The Mahāvaṃsa, or The Great Chronicle of Ceylon. Oxford: Pali
Text Society, 2001.
Jayawickrama, N. A., ed. and trans. The Chronicle of the Thūpa and the Thūpavaṃsa: Be
ing a Translation and Edition of Vācissaratthera’s Thūpavaṃsa. London: Luzac, 1971.
Jayawickrama, N. A., trans. The Sheaf of the Garlands of the Epochs of the Conqueror: Be
ing a Translation of Jinakālamālīpakaraṇaṁ of Ratannapañña Thera of Thailand. London:
Luzac, 1968.
Law, Bimala Churn, trans. The History of the Buddha’s Religion (Sāsanavaṃsa). London:
Luzac, 1952.
Legge, James, trans., A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an Account by the Chinese
Monk Fâ-hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399–414) in Search of the Buddhist
Books of Discipline. New York: Paragon Books, 1965.
Li Rongxi, trans. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. Berkeley, CA:
Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1996.
Notton, Camille, trans. The Chronicle of the Emerald Buddha. Bangkok: Bangkok Time
Press, 1932.
Notton, Camille, trans. P’ra Buddha Sihiṅga. Bangkok: Bangkok Time Press, 1933.
Preuss, James B. The Thāt Phanom Chronicle: A Shrine History and its Interpretation.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1976.
Swearer, Donald K., and Sommai Premchit, trans., The Legend of Queen Cāma:
Bodhiraṃsi’s Cāmadevīvaṃsa, a Translation and Commentary. Albany: State University of
New York Press, 1998.
Thera, Vedeha. In Praise of Mount Samanta (Samantakūṭavaṇṇanā). Translated by Ann

Appleby Hazelwood. London: Pali Text Society, 1986.
Page 22 of 28

Further Reading
Bentor, Yael. Consecration of Images and Stūpas in Indo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Lei
den, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1996.
Berkwitz, Stephen. Buddhist History in the Vernacular: The Power of the Past in Late Me
dieval Sri Lanka. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2004.
Blackburn, Anne M. “Buddha-Relics in the Lives of Southern Asian Polities.” Numen 57

(2010): 317–340.
Carter, Martha L. The Mystery of the Udayana Buddha. Naples, Italy: Instituto Universi
tario Orientale, 1990.
DeCaroli, Robert. Image Problems: The Origin and Development of the Buddha’s Image in
Early South Asia. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015.
Faure, Bernard. “Relics and Flesh Bodies: The Creation of Ch’an Pilgrimage Sites.” In Pil
grims and Sacred Sites in China. Edited by Susan Naquin and Chün-fang Yü, 150–189.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
Faure, Bernard. The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.
Germano, David, and Kevin Trainor, eds. Embodying the Dharma: Buddhist Relic Venera
tion in Asia. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004.
Ladwig, Patrice. “Worshipping Relics and Animating Statues: Transformations of Bud

dhist Statecraft in Contemporary Laos.” Modern Asian Studies 49, no. 6 (2015): 1875–
1902.
Lagirarde, François. “Narratives as Ritual Histories: The Case of the Northern-Thai Bud
dhist Chronicles.” In Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond. Vol. 1. Edited by Peter
Skilling and Justin McDaniel, 81–92. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 2013.
Leider, Jacques. “Relics, Statues, and Predictions: Interpreting an Apocryphal Sermon of

Lord Buddha in Arakan.” Asian Ethnology 68, no. 2 (2009): 333–364.
Ruppert, Brian D. Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2000.
Scheible, Kristin. Reading the Mahāvaṃsa: The Literary Aims of a Theravāda Buddhist
History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.
Schober, Juliane. “In the Presence of the Buddha: Ritual Veneration of the Burmese Mahā
muni Image.” In Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast
Asia. Edited by Juliane Schober, 259–288. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997.
Page 23 of 28

Sharf, Robert H. “The Buddha’s Finger Bones at Famensi and the Art of Chinese Esoteric
Buddhism.” Art Bulletin 93, no. 1 (2011): 38–59.
Sharf, Robert H. “On the Allure of Buddhist Relics.” Representations 66 (1999): 75–99.
Shinohara, Koichi. “The Story of the Buddha’s Begging Bowl: Imagining a Biography of
Sacred Places.” In Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place: Localizing Sanctity in Asian Religions.
Edited by Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara, 68–107. Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press,
2003.
Strong, John S. Relics of the Buddha. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.
Swearer, Donald K. Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.
Tambiah, Stanley J. “Famous Buddha Images and the Legitimation of Kings: The Case of
the Sinhala Buddha (Phra Sihing) in Thailand.” RES 4 (1982): 5–19.
Trainor, Kevin. Relics, Ritual, and Representation in Buddhism: Rematerializing the Sri
Lankan Theravāda Tradition. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Zivkovic, Tanya. Death and Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism: In-Between Bodies. Lon
don: Routledge, 2014.
Notes:
(1.) Kevin Trainor, Relics, Ritual, and Representation in Buddhism: Rematerializing the Sri
Lankan Theravāda Tradition (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 89.
(2.) See, for instance, John Powers, A Bull of a Man: Images of Masculinity, Sex, and the
Body in Indian Buddhism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), 21–23.
(3.) Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura, ca. 150 bce–100
ce (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007), 249–250.
(4.) Thomas William Rhys Davids, The Questions of King Milinda, Part II (Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1988), 229–230. This was originally published in 1894.
(5.) John S. Strong, Relics of the Buddha (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
2004), 19–20.
(6.) James Robson, “Relic Wary: Facets of Buddhist Relic Veneration in East Asia and Re
cent Scholarship,” International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture 27, no. 2
(2017): 25–26.
(7.) Stephen C. Berkwitz, Buddhist History in the Vernacular: The Power of the Past in
Late Medieval Sri Lanka (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2004), 25.
(8.) Berkwitz, Buddhist History in the Vernacular, 107–109.
Page 24 of 28

(9.) In the case of northern Thai texts, see François Lagirarde, “Temps et lieux d’histoires
bouddhiques: À propos de quelques ‘chroniques’ inédites du Lanna,” Bulletin de L’École
Française d’Extrême-Orient 94 (2007): 63–65.
(10.) Strong, Relics of the Buddha, 7.
(11.) Juliane Schober, “In the Presence of the Buddha: Ritual Veneration of the Burmese
Mahāmuni Image,” in Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and South
east Asia, ed. Juliane Schober (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997), 259–288,
esp. 260.
(12.) David Germano, “Living Relics of the Buddha(s) in Tibet,” in Embodying the Dhar
ma: Buddhist Relic Veneration in Asia, ed. David Germano and Kevin Trainor (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 2004), 51–91, esp. 52.
(13.) Jacob N. Kinnard, “The Field of the Buddha’s Presence,” in Embodying the Dharma,
ed. Germano and Trainor, 117–143, esp. 117–118.
(14.) Gregory Schopen, Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Ar
chaeology, Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India (Honolulu: University of
Hawai’i Press, 1997), 276–277.
(15.) Bernard Faure, The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Bud
dhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), 150–160.
(17.) N. A. Jayawickrama, ed. and trans., The Chronicle of the Thūpa and the Thū
pavaṃsa: Being a Translation and Edition of Vācissaratthera’s Thūpavaṃsa (London:
Luzac, 1971), 124–125. See also Stephen C. Berkwitz, trans., The History of the Buddha’s
Relic Shrine: A Translation of the Sinhala Thūpavaṃsa (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2007), 231.
(18.) Jayawickrama, Chronicle of the Thūpa, 112.
(19.) Martha L. Carter, The Mystery of the Udayana Buddha (Naples, Italy: Instituto Uni
versitario Orientale, 1990), 24–26.
(20.) François Lagirarde, “Narratives as Ritual Histories: The Case of the Northern-Thai
Buddhist Chronicles,” in Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, vol. 1, ed. Peter Skilling
and Justin McDaniel (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 2013), 88–89.
(21.) Jayawickrama, Chronicle of the Thūpa, 124. Cf. Berkwitz, History of the Buddha’s
Relic Shrine, 230–231.
(22.) Berkwitz, History of the Buddha’s Relic Shrine, 231–232. Cf. Jayawickrama, Chroni
cle of the Thūpa, 125.
Page 25 of 28

(23.) The following summary is based on the account in N. A. Jayawickrama, trans., The
Sheaf of the Garlands of the Epochs of the Conqueror: Being a Translation of Ji
nakālamālīpakaraṇaṁ of Ratannapañña Thera of Thailand (London: Luzac, 1968), 120–
126.
(24.) Stanley J. Tambiah, “Famous Buddha Images and the Legitimation of Kings: The
Case of the Sinhala Buddha (Phra Sihing) in Thailand,” RES 4 (1982): 16–17.
(25.) Germano, “Living Relics of the Buddha(s) in Tibet,” 84.
(27.) Tanya Zivkovic, Death and Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism: In-between Bodies
(London: Routledge, 2014), 3–4.
(28.) Carter, Mystery of the Udayana Buddha, 7.
(29.) Strong, Relics of the Buddha, 218–219.
(30.) Koichi Shinohara, “The Story of the Buddha’s Begging Bowl: Imagining a Biography
and Sacred Places,” in Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place: Localizing Sanctity in Asian
Religions, ed. Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara (Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press,
2003), 87–88.
(31.) Berkwitz, History of the Buddha’s Relic Shrine, 119. Cf. Jayawickrama, Chronicle of
the Thūpa, 34.
(32.) Berkwitz, Buddhist History in the Vernacular, 251.
(33.) Bimala Churn Law, trans., The History of the Buddha’s Religion (Sāsanavaṃsa)
(London: Luzac, 1952), 42.
(34.) Patrick Arthur Pranke, The Treatise on the Lineage of the Elders (Vaṃsadīpanī):
Monastic Reform and the Writing of Buddhist History in Eighteenth-Century Burma (PhD
diss., University of Michigan, 2004), 131. (Changes in italics and spellings made by the
present author for stylistic consistency.)
(35.) Gunapala Senadhira, ed., Sinhala Bōdhivaṁśaya (Colombo, Sri Lanka: Abhaya,
1965), 233–234.
(36.) T. W. Rhys Davids, ed., “The Dāṭhāvaṃsa,” Journal of the Pali Text Society (1884): IV.
51, V.26; Jayawickrama, Chronicle of the Thūpa, 67; and W. S. Pranandu (Fernando), ed.,
Dhātuvaṁśaya (Colombo, Sri Lanka: Saviya, 1940), 62.
(37.) Donald K. Swearer and Sommai Premchit, trans., The Legend of Queen Cāma:
Bodhiraṃsi’s Cāmadevīvaṃsa, a Translation and Commentary (Albany: State University of
New York Press, 1998), 132–133.
Page 26 of 28

(39.) Patrice Ladwig, “Worshipping Relics and Animating Statues: Transformations of

Buddhist Statecraft in Contemporary Laos,” Modern Asian Studies 49, no. 6 (2015): 1885–
1886.
(40.) Camille Notton, trans., P’ra Buddha Sihiṅga (Bangkok: Bangkok Time, 1933), 27.
(41.) Notton, P’ra Buddha Sihiṅga, 38.
(43.) Ladwig, “Worshipping Relics and Animating Statues,” 1897; and Lagirarde, “Narra
tives as Ritual Histories,” 88.
(44.) Jayawickrama, Sheaf of the Garlands, 141.
(45.) Camille Notton, trans., The Chronicle of the Emerald Buddha (Bangkok: Bangkok
Time, 1932), 17.
(46.) Notton, Chronicle of Emerald Buddha, 18.
(47.) Schober, “In the Presence of the Buddha,” 268.
(50.) Germano, “Living Relics of the Buddha(s) in Tibet,” 69–71.
(52.) Zivkovic, Death and Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism, 17.
(53.) Zivkovic, Death and Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism, 20.
(54.) Alice Greenwald, “The Relic on the Spear: Historiography and the Saga of Duṭṭhagā
maṇī,” in Religion and Legitimation of Power in Sri Lanka, ed. Bardwell L. Smith (Cham
bersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1978), 13–35, esp. 13–14. The original textual account may
be found in Wilhelm Geiger, trans., The Mahāvaṃsa: Or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon
(Oxford: Pali Text Society, 2001), 170. This was originally published in 1912.
(55.) Anne M. Blackburn, “Buddha-Relics in the Lives of Southern Asian Polities,” Numen
57 (2010): 320.
(56.) Law, History of the Buddha’s Religion, 70–71.
(57.) Pranke, Treatise on the Lineage of the Elders, 161–162.
(58.) Senadhira, Sinhala Bōdhivaṁśaya, 229.
(59.) Senadhira, Sinhala Bōdhivaṁśaya, 237. Cf. S. Arthur Strong, ed., The Mahābodhi-
Vaṁsa (London: Pali Text Society, 1891), 170.
Page 27 of 28

(60.) Li Rongxi, trans., The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions (Berkeley,
CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1996), 70–72.
(61.) Brian D. Ruppert, Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval
Japan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2000), 263.
(62.) Ruppert, Jewel in the Ashes, 108.
(63.) Tambiah, “Famous Buddha Images,” 11.
(65.) Frank E. Reynolds, “The Holy Emerald Jewel: Some Aspects of Buddhist Symbolism
and Political Legitimation in Thailand and Laos,” in Religion and Legitimation of Power,
ed. Smith, 179–180.
(66.) Ladwig, “Worshipping Relics and Animating Statues,” 1889.
(68.) Berkwitz, Buddhist History in the Vernacular, 231.
(69.) Studies on vernacular sources on relics and images include Berkwitz, Buddhist His
tory in the Vernacular, and Donald K. Swearer, Wat Haripuñjaya: A Study of the Royal
Temple of the Buddha’s Relic, Lamphun, Thailand (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1976).
(70.) Some examples include Ruppert, Jewel in the Ashes; Bernard Faure, “Relics and
Flesh Bodies: The Creation of Ch’an Pilgrimage Sites,” in Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in
China, ed. Susan Naquin and Chün-fang Yü (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1992), 150–189; and Yael Bentor, Consecration of Images and Stūpas in Indo-Tibetan
Tantric Buddhism (Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1996).
(71.) Notable examples include Strong, Relics of the Buddha; Trainor, Relics, Ritual, and
Representation in Buddhism; Robert DeCaroli, Image Problems: The Origin and Develop
ment of the Buddha’s Image in Early South Asia (Seattle: University of Washington Press,
2015); and Donald K. Swearer, Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration
in Thailand (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004).
Stephen C. Berkwitz
Department of Religious State, Missouri State University
Page 28 of 28

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Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion

Summary and Keywords

Histories of Powerful Objects

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Furthermore, some of the earliest textual references to relics or “reminders” (cetiya) of

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Although there is a plausible argument to be made with reference to equating narratives

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The Work of Buddhist Narratives

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Thera, Vedeha. In Praise of Mount Samanta (Samantakūṭavaṇṇanā). Translated by Ann

Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 28 May 2019

Blackburn, Anne M. “Buddha-Relics in the Lives of Southern Asian Polities.” Numen 57

Faure, Bernard. The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism.

Ladwig, Patrice. “Worshipping Relics and Animating Statues: Transformations of Bud­

Leider, Jacques. “Relics, Statues, and Predictions: Interpreting an Apocryphal Sermon of

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(8.) Berkwitz, Buddhist History in the Vernacular, 107–109.

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(10.) Strong, Relics of the Buddha, 7.

(16.) Strong, Relics of the Buddha, 229.

(18.) Jayawickrama, Chronicle of the Thūpa, 112.

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(25.) Germano, “Living Relics of the Buddha(s) in Tibet,” 84.

(26.) Germano, “Living Relics of the Buddha(s) in Tibet,” 84.

(28.) Carter, Mystery of the Udayana Buddha, 7.

(29.) Strong, Relics of the Buddha, 218–219.

(32.) Berkwitz, Buddhist History in the Vernacular, 251.

(38.) Strong, Relics of the Buddha, 176.

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(39.) Patrice Ladwig, “Worshipping Relics and Animating Statues: Transformations of

(41.) Notton, P’ra Buddha Sihiṅga, 38.

(42.) Notton, P’ra Buddha Sihiṅga, 7.

(44.) Jayawickrama, Sheaf of the Garlands, 141.

(46.) Notton, Chronicle of Emerald Buddha, 18.

(47.) Schober, “In the Presence of the Buddha,” 268.

(48.) Schober, “In the Presence of the Buddha,” 269.

(49.) Schober, “In the Presence of the Buddha,” 269.

(50.) Germano, “Living Relics of the Buddha(s) in Tibet,” 69–71.

(51.) Germano, “Living Relics of the Buddha(s) in Tibet,” 73.

Ladwig, Patrice. “Worshipping Relics and Animating Statues: Transformations of Bud