Originally published August 21st, 2007 at: http://desicritics.org/2007/08/21/000845.php
Republished by the Sri Lanka Daily News on August 23, 2007
Republished by the South Asian Media Net on August 24, 2007
Images courtesy of Sri Lanka Daily News
Travel with me to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Laxmi Narain Temple in Delhi, The Temple of the Tooth - Sri Dalada Maligawa
in Sri Lanka, the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore and the Baha’i House of Worship in Delhi. Each edifice is unique and magnificent, an architectural
statement of the faith of its devotees. Each visit stirs the viewer in different ways; the awe of seeing thousands upon thousands kneeling before Allah in the vast courtyard of the Badshahi Mosque, the stunning, shining glory of the Golden Temple, perhaps the most beautiful in the world, the welcoming warmth of the Temple of the Tooth, the silent, amazing lotus-shaped glory of the Baha’i House of Worship in Delhi and the noisy but colorful welcome of the Laxmi Narain Temple in Delhi where all castes and faiths are welcome.
Such visits were special because they seemed to represent for me an experience that inspires faith in the creator, where I was lifted above the actual gold, stone and mortar, to thoughts of people’s adoration of the eternal. Perhaps each edifice was meant to inspire a phenomenon of faith that transcends logic, transcends the mere physical representations, the icons and brings one to a point of adoration of the almighty, the giver of light. These temples were not for me the actual objects of adoration; rather I perceived them as gathering places where people of different faiths sought peace, calmness, joy, and a hope for an eternity, nirvana. If there was adoration, I did not perceive it was for the physical objects, or for mere men who have lived and walked, rather for what these represented, what they taught.
Now, relics are a different matter to me. They include such items as a bone, a dried up mummy, ashes, a fingernail, hair, a robe worn by the master, a sliver of Jesus’ cross or even a footprint of a prophet. There seems to be an immense social-religious need to venerate such physical objects, primarily made of carbon. There is a current fever for obtaining ‘genuine’ relics. Selling the saints, reported by Phil Lipof, in WHDH-TV Special Report, (8/14/2007) presents a disturbing account of selling relics online. “With a click of the mouse, spirituality is up for sale!!” I wonder about that. Spirituality? E-Bay says that they try to stop the sale of blood, bones or body parts. “But there are so many items like this for sale at any given time; it would take divine intervention to catch them all.” Relics for sale to the highest bidder. Why?
Flash! The Taxila Cross, (8/14/2007), from the book, Shadows in the Dark, by Fr. John Rooney M.H.M. (Pakistan Christian History Monograph, No.1) “There are two further pieces of evidence that might seem to suggest a St Thomas connection with Pakistan, the one epigraphical, the other social. The epigraphical evidence is an interesting cross found at Taxila now lodged in the Anglican cathedral at Lahore, where it is know as the Taxila Cross. The social evidence concerns a fakir community which is said to be connected with Thatta, Sind, and to claims that it has origins in St. Thomas.”
Here we go again! The small cross has been taken over by the United Church there as its symbol, found in the ancient city of Sirkap some forty years ago. And you had better believe that there is controversy over this as well. All sorts of scholarly opinions are being proffered now to challenge the little cross as not being a “genuine Christian relic.” Strongest among the challengers are those who say that it is a type of cross that is more or less equilateral, thus not a Christian cross. This type of cross is similar to hosts of other such crosses which are of Buddhist origin. Oh brother, now the arguments are flying back and forth.
But relics create responses filled with zeal. The helpful and often accurate, Wikipedia says this about Muslim Relics: “While various relics are preserved by different Muslim communities, the most important are those known as the Sacred Trusts, more than 600 pieces treasured in the Privy Chamber of the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul. Muslims believe that these treasures include the sword and standard of Muhammad, a hair from his beard, and the staff of Moses.” I was surprised at the last statement, that The Quran has “... been recited next to these relics uninterruptedly since they were brought to the Topkapi Palace.” Such fervor!
World Tibet Network News, (March 5, 2001) reported, “...large portions of the two massive Buddha figures in central Bamiyan province, dating back more than 1,500 years, have already been reduced to rubble, along with thousands of other statues throughout the country. It was reported that an edict had been published and, “... will be implemented Inshallah (God willing).” The article spoke of reports from Taliban officials about the destruction and the nature of the order from the Taliban Supreme Leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar who had authorized the iconoclasm. A hot storm of international protest erupted about this action of these fundamental radical Muslims.
Sadly, I had never traveled in Afghanistan to see the Bamiyan Buddhas, which stood some fifty meters tall. These statues which had existed since the third century BC are no more.
Smashed, destroyed in the fever of a religious zeal that I do not comprehend. Such zealous fervor to obliterate the religious expressions of others is ‘old hat’ in many parts of the world, including Christian Europe. Our guide in Cusco, Peru said that a Spanish Catholic Church there was built over the priceless ruins of ancient Inca religious ruins. They even used beautiful hand-formed, fitted stones as part of their church foundations. There are stories galore of this type; one religion obliterating the beauties and joys of another.
How did the tooth get to Sri Lanka? That is a story by itself, but one version is that the tooth was removed from the Buddha when the body was on the cremation pyre and eventually made its way to Ceylon hidden in someone’s hair. But that is not what is important. A tooth is there and it has been revered by millions upon millions for centuries and now there is to be more.
Sacred Hair Relics will be presented to the Sri Lankan on 18th July in Chittaghong, as reported by (narinjara.com, 8/14/2007). “President Mahinda Rajapaksa has offered state patronage to the event and several leading Buddhist monks and Ministers are to take part at the events related to the arrival of the relic in Sri Lanka.” Of course controversy now boils up. Researchers and critics cast doubt about the authenticity of the hair relics. There are obstructive tangles, calls for better means to determine authenticity. Hair, nail clippings, shrouds?Remember Emperor Ashoka? He converted to Buddhism in the third century BC. He was a zealot. He opened seven of the original stupas and collected their relics and, according to The Asokavadana, divided these relics into 84,000 portions and distributed these in his Indian empire, vowing to erect a stupa for each portion. Now that was amazing fervor! Perhaps that number was symbolic, or a scribe added a zero or two.
Is the reverence for relics something that transcends logic, transcends the mere physical object? Of what? Is the reverence for the prophet himself, or is the reverence much higher than that, for the creator, the eternal? Would the one crucified be pleased to see splinters of a cross venerated? What about the message? What does a little silver Taxila Cross have to do with it? Or is it the same feeling that I get when I visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar? Awe.
I have not read the Sermon on the Mount for quite some time. Do you remember it? Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the merciful, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness...Jesus’ message is important. I went back to my library and pulled a little book from the shelf that I had read years ago, The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, by E.A Burtt, 1982, Mentor. I was refreshing my memory about Siddartha Guatama’s teaching because I was wondering how such obsessions with relics, the emphasis on the physical, ashes, the hair, the tooth, fit in with his message of gentleness, serenity, compassion, liberation from selfish cravings for the physical.
E. A. Burtt puts it this way in his Introduction, (page 20.) “Worst of all , perhaps, from Buddha’s standpoint, religion was straying through these and other vices away from the insistent, poignant, practical needs of men and women. It was not leading them toward true fulfillment and more dependable happiness; it was becoming mired in obstructive tradition, repetitious rite, and dead or cantankerous dogma. He conceived it as his task to break through or sweep away these obstructive tangles, to find an enduring solution to the real problems of men and to bring India and the world a saving message of light and love.”
Republished by the Sri Lanka Daily News on August 23, 2007
Republished by the South Asian Media Net on August 24, 2007
Images courtesy of Sri Lanka Daily News
Travel with me to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Laxmi Narain Temple in Delhi, The Temple of the Tooth - Sri Dalada Maligawa
in Sri Lanka, the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore and the Baha’i House of Worship in Delhi. Each edifice is unique and magnificent, an architecturalstatement of the faith of its devotees. Each visit stirs the viewer in different ways; the awe of seeing thousands upon thousands kneeling before Allah in the vast courtyard of the Badshahi Mosque, the stunning, shining glory of the Golden Temple, perhaps the most beautiful in the world, the welcoming warmth of the Temple of the Tooth, the silent, amazing lotus-shaped glory of the Baha’i House of Worship in Delhi and the noisy but colorful welcome of the Laxmi Narain Temple in Delhi where all castes and faiths are welcome.
Such visits were special because they seemed to represent for me an experience that inspires faith in the creator, where I was lifted above the actual gold, stone and mortar, to thoughts of people’s adoration of the eternal. Perhaps each edifice was meant to inspire a phenomenon of faith that transcends logic, transcends the mere physical representations, the icons and brings one to a point of adoration of the almighty, the giver of light. These temples were not for me the actual objects of adoration; rather I perceived them as gathering places where people of different faiths sought peace, calmness, joy, and a hope for an eternity, nirvana. If there was adoration, I did not perceive it was for the physical objects, or for mere men who have lived and walked, rather for what these represented, what they taught.
Now, relics are a different matter to me. They include such items as a bone, a dried up mummy, ashes, a fingernail, hair, a robe worn by the master, a sliver of Jesus’ cross or even a footprint of a prophet. There seems to be an immense social-religious need to venerate such physical objects, primarily made of carbon. There is a current fever for obtaining ‘genuine’ relics. Selling the saints, reported by Phil Lipof, in WHDH-TV Special Report, (8/14/2007) presents a disturbing account of selling relics online. “With a click of the mouse, spirituality is up for sale!!” I wonder about that. Spirituality? E-Bay says that they try to stop the sale of blood, bones or body parts. “But there are so many items like this for sale at any given time; it would take divine intervention to catch them all.” Relics for sale to the highest bidder. Why?
Flash! The Taxila Cross, (8/14/2007), from the book, Shadows in the Dark, by Fr. John Rooney M.H.M. (Pakistan Christian History Monograph, No.1) “There are two further pieces of evidence that might seem to suggest a St Thomas connection with Pakistan, the one epigraphical, the other social. The epigraphical evidence is an interesting cross found at Taxila now lodged in the Anglican cathedral at Lahore, where it is know as the Taxila Cross. The social evidence concerns a fakir community which is said to be connected with Thatta, Sind, and to claims that it has origins in St. Thomas.”
Here we go again! The small cross has been taken over by the United Church there as its symbol, found in the ancient city of Sirkap some forty years ago. And you had better believe that there is controversy over this as well. All sorts of scholarly opinions are being proffered now to challenge the little cross as not being a “genuine Christian relic.” Strongest among the challengers are those who say that it is a type of cross that is more or less equilateral, thus not a Christian cross. This type of cross is similar to hosts of other such crosses which are of Buddhist origin. Oh brother, now the arguments are flying back and forth.
But relics create responses filled with zeal. The helpful and often accurate, Wikipedia says this about Muslim Relics: “While various relics are preserved by different Muslim communities, the most important are those known as the Sacred Trusts, more than 600 pieces treasured in the Privy Chamber of the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul. Muslims believe that these treasures include the sword and standard of Muhammad, a hair from his beard, and the staff of Moses.” I was surprised at the last statement, that The Quran has “... been recited next to these relics uninterruptedly since they were brought to the Topkapi Palace.” Such fervor!
World Tibet Network News, (March 5, 2001) reported, “...large portions of the two massive Buddha figures in central Bamiyan province, dating back more than 1,500 years, have already been reduced to rubble, along with thousands of other statues throughout the country. It was reported that an edict had been published and, “... will be implemented Inshallah (God willing).” The article spoke of reports from Taliban officials about the destruction and the nature of the order from the Taliban Supreme Leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar who had authorized the iconoclasm. A hot storm of international protest erupted about this action of these fundamental radical Muslims.
Sadly, I had never traveled in Afghanistan to see the Bamiyan Buddhas, which stood some fifty meters tall. These statues which had existed since the third century BC are no more.
Smashed, destroyed in the fever of a religious zeal that I do not comprehend. Such zealous fervor to obliterate the religious expressions of others is ‘old hat’ in many parts of the world, including Christian Europe. Our guide in Cusco, Peru said that a Spanish Catholic Church there was built over the priceless ruins of ancient Inca religious ruins. They even used beautiful hand-formed, fitted stones as part of their church foundations. There are stories galore of this type; one religion obliterating the beauties and joys of another.Travel with me to Kandy, Sri Lanka and stand near the edge of the lake and look at the Temple of the Tooth. It was a quiet day and I stood with my wife and friends gazing at the temple. A few dozen of tourists and an equal number of those on pilgrimage had come to see the tooth were wandering around, climbing the steps into the temple. No, you can’t see the tooth; it is kept securely behind a protective wall and drapery in the reliquary.
It has not been brought to light since 1990 because of worries that the Tamil Tigers would try to damage or make off with it. Only its casket is now brought out during the annual festival. And what a fever of excitement there is when as many one hundred elephants dressed in finery make their way into the town as drums beat, flutes play and dancers leap about! Attendance at the Esal Perahea may number a million people from all ranks of Sri Lankan society. Tamil Hindus and many Christians take part in the celebration.
How did the tooth get to Sri Lanka? That is a story by itself, but one version is that the tooth was removed from the Buddha when the body was on the cremation pyre and eventually made its way to Ceylon hidden in someone’s hair. But that is not what is important. A tooth is there and it has been revered by millions upon millions for centuries and now there is to be more.
Sacred Hair Relics will be presented to the Sri Lankan on 18th July in Chittaghong, as reported by (narinjara.com, 8/14/2007). “President Mahinda Rajapaksa has offered state patronage to the event and several leading Buddhist monks and Ministers are to take part at the events related to the arrival of the relic in Sri Lanka.” Of course controversy now boils up. Researchers and critics cast doubt about the authenticity of the hair relics. There are obstructive tangles, calls for better means to determine authenticity. Hair, nail clippings, shrouds?Remember Emperor Ashoka? He converted to Buddhism in the third century BC. He was a zealot. He opened seven of the original stupas and collected their relics and, according to The Asokavadana, divided these relics into 84,000 portions and distributed these in his Indian empire, vowing to erect a stupa for each portion. Now that was amazing fervor! Perhaps that number was symbolic, or a scribe added a zero or two.
Is the reverence for relics something that transcends logic, transcends the mere physical object? Of what? Is the reverence for the prophet himself, or is the reverence much higher than that, for the creator, the eternal? Would the one crucified be pleased to see splinters of a cross venerated? What about the message? What does a little silver Taxila Cross have to do with it? Or is it the same feeling that I get when I visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar? Awe.
I have not read the Sermon on the Mount for quite some time. Do you remember it? Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the merciful, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness...Jesus’ message is important. I went back to my library and pulled a little book from the shelf that I had read years ago, The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, by E.A Burtt, 1982, Mentor. I was refreshing my memory about Siddartha Guatama’s teaching because I was wondering how such obsessions with relics, the emphasis on the physical, ashes, the hair, the tooth, fit in with his message of gentleness, serenity, compassion, liberation from selfish cravings for the physical.
E. A. Burtt puts it this way in his Introduction, (page 20.) “Worst of all , perhaps, from Buddha’s standpoint, religion was straying through these and other vices away from the insistent, poignant, practical needs of men and women. It was not leading them toward true fulfillment and more dependable happiness; it was becoming mired in obstructive tradition, repetitious rite, and dead or cantankerous dogma. He conceived it as his task to break through or sweep away these obstructive tangles, to find an enduring solution to the real problems of men and to bring India and the world a saving message of light and love.”
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