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Finger
bone of Buddha enshrined in world's highest pagoda in China New
Delhi: A finger bone believed to belong to the Buddha was enshrined on May
9th in a 148-meter-high stupa, the world's highest, in an ancient temple in northwest
China's Shaanxi province. The grand ceremony was held in the Famen Temple, Fufeng
county, where a sarira, thought to be the middle finger of the left hand of Sakyamuni,
was found in 1987 in a 1,000-year-old underground hall along with 2,000 ancient
relics. The finger bone sarira, concealed in a golden pagoda-shaped container,
was carried by senior monks past 20,000 people gathered to see the ceremony. The
sarira was put into an underground sanctum in the stupa. It would be presented
to the public on significant dates or events, according to Zeng Qin, vice chairman
of the Provincial Buddhist Association. "The enshrinement of Buddha's finger bone
proceeded according to Buddhist rituals," said Xue Cheng, vice chairman of the
China Buddhist Association. According to historical records, the sarira had been
kept in the underground sanctum in Famen Temple since 874 in the Tang Dynasty,
before it was taken out in 1987. Since then, the temple, 118 kilometers from the
provincial capital of Xi'an, has become a holy place for Buddhists from around
the world. The temple has received about 10 million visitors over the past 20
years, according to the provincial tourism bureau. "It took workers four years
to build the 148-meter-high pagoda at a cost of more than 2 billion yuan (293
million US dollars), most of which was donated by enterprises and organizations,"
said Zeng. The stupa is shaped to resemble the common Buddhist gesture of putting
the palms together with fingers pointing upwards. In the middle of the "palms"
is the pagoda that houses the sarira. Sarira, remains from the cremation of a
Buddha or a saintly monk, are regarded as a treasured Buddhist relics. -May
11, 2009 |
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