'Relics, they always are' : For all believers, there are objects revered as sacred

Boston.com ^ | January 14, 2007 | J.M. Berger

[Alex Murphy]

Christianity 101 stipulates that the body of Jesus isn't available for viewing. Other religions have it easier.

Several hundred people turned out in 2005 to view a touring collection of Buddhist relics at the Thousand Buddha Temple in Quincy. The exhibition displayed relics of Siddhartha, the religious figure most outsiders know simply by his title -- Buddha.

The relics included flakes of dried blood, fragments of bone, and cremated remains believed to be those of Buddhism's founder, who died about 2,500 years ago. For Buddhists, viewing a relic is an intense experience.

"I can attain pure mind at the moment of seeing a relic," said Bhiksuni Kuan Yen, the abbess of the Thousand Buddha Temple, through a translator.

Relics of Siddhartha are the most auspicious in Buddhism, but others are kept and venerated as well, including relics of bodhisattvas -- revered figures somewhat akin to Christian saints. Two such relics are kept at the Quincy temple.

A buddha's body is believed to literally become one with spiritual teaching and cosmic law. Relics are therefore seen as the actual wisdom of a buddha manifested in physical form, said Yen.

"Not only are relics the embodiment of wisdom and virtues, it also sets an example to inspire the worshipper or viewer to be a better person," she said.

In virtually all religions, relics are thought to convey direct spiritual benefits.

For instance, praying before a relic in Catholicism sometimes earns an "indulgence," a fairly complicated religious concept that involves reducing a sinner's divine punishment in the afterlife.

"All religions have some objects that are understood to have particular power because of the objects' relationship to divinity," said Robert Orsi, a professor of the history of religion at Harvard Divinity School.

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Teddy Kennedy is a relic - so is Robert Byrd.