Buddha Tooth

I found the pamphlet I brought back from Taiwan, procured on my visit to the Buddhist monastery university, about the tooth of Buddha I had a chance to see. Now that I have proper information about the tooth, I thought it would be interesting to share. :-)

Buddha Tooth Relic Shrine

In April 1998, the Buddha Tooth Relic made its way from India via Thailand and was enshrined here with all respect and honor due. It is here for Buddhist devotees to worship and venerate, until construction on the Buddha Memorial Center is completed.

The relics of the Buddha's body are known as sarira, and are remaining bone fragments from the Buddha's cremation. It is recorded in the Buddhist sutras that: "Sarira are from the cultivation of morality, meditation and wisdom. They are extremely rare, and the supreme field of merit." After the Buddha's Parinirvana, his entire body became many fine relics, along with four complete teeth. Of these four tooth relics, one passed on to the Trayastrimsa heaven, one passed on to Malagawa Temple in Sri Lanka, one passed to Lingguang Temple in Beijing, and the fourth was in Tibet until 1998, when Tibetan Lama Kongadorje Rinpoche bestowed it upon Venerable Master Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan.

Under the protection of Thailand's Dharmaraja, Somdet Phrayanwarodom Mahathera, who confirmed and received the relic, it traveled from Tibet, via Nepal and Thailand, until it was received by Fo Guang Shan as an offering of the Dharma Jewel for the long life of the nation. Fo Guang Shan wished to give and share the Buddha Tooth relic with the entire country, and thus started construction on the Buddha Memorial Center as a permanent site of offering where everyone could worship. Fo Guang Shang hopes that this most excellent of offerings will act to protect the nation, keeping it safe from natural disasters, and bringing peace and happiness to the entire world.