Relics and Images

Question 1

Scriptures

Answer 1

two main types:
Āgama/Nikāya versions: the Final teaching of the Buddha: very long, highly composite account: 6 versions (Pāli, Sanskrit, Chinese) + gāndhārī fgts.

Vinaya versions: most start just after the pariṇirvāṇa, focus on the funerals, and lead to the gathering of the first “council” (saṃgīti): 5 versions (Buddhist Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan)

Question 2

Buddhas absence/ongoing presence

Answer 2

1. After his pariṇirvāṇa, he is simply gone (tathā-gata), cf. the unanswered matters (avyākṛta); is homologized with the Dharma (his sole successor)
2. Diverse ways to mark his enduring presence and encounter him
   ™ Relics and spots marked by his presence
   ™ Commemoration of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), and later visualisation practices
   ™ Beliefs about his successor(s), especially Maitreya
   ™ Development of beliefs in other Buddha’s substitutes (heir, “substituted bodies” such as images, or beings performing his task, or texts)

Question 3

substitutes of buddhas presence

Answer 3

1. Relics
   From the Great Chronicle:
   “When the relics are seen, the Buddha is seen”
2. Images
   From the Scripture on the making of Buddha’s images:
   “Even if he has reached complete extinction, by seeing the Buddha’s
   image, it is as if he hadn’t enter complete extinction”
3. The Buddha’s Teachings
   From the Discourse to Vakkali:
   “He who sees the Dharma, he sees the Buddha”

Question 4

Stūpa

Answer 4

Monumental funerary mound within which are enshrined the relics of the Buddha or another Buddhist “saint”.
Three kinds of relics
1. bodily relics
2. “touchrelics”
3. Dharma-relics(developinthefirstcenturiesCE)

Question 5

Images

Answer 5

Buddha as a permanent resident in monasteries

Merit o make and commission immages: Reborn with the qualities of beauty and prosperity, they become of well-protected senses and, resplendent as the sun, are a delight to look at in the world, they who commission a image of the Jina.