Buddhist relics are travelling the world
Will eventually be enshrined in statue
By JANICE MAWHINNEY
More than 1,000 relics of the Buddha, Gautauma Siddartha, and many other Buddhist masters will stop for two days in Toronto during a world tour.
The relics, rarely available for public viewing, are traditionally kept enshrined inside statues. Some of the relics on tour have been salvaged from desecrated statues in Tibet, says commercial real estate broker Paul Newton, 44, who is coordinating the Toronto stop on the tour. Others are from spiritual masters of the Chinese and Indian traditions.
The relics will be on public display next Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Chun Chanh Giac Vietnamese Buddhist Temple at 300 Bathurst St.
There is no admission charge, Newton says, but donations will be welcomed towards the building of a 152-metre bronze statue of Maitreya Buddha in Uttar Pradesh, northern India. The relics are intended to be eventually installed in the heart shrine of the statue, which is designed to be a monument to loving kindness.
Most of the relics are pearl-like crystalline deposits or bone fragments collected from the cremated ashes of Buddhist masters. Buddhists texts suggest that visiting such relics can inspire peace and loving kindness in the viewers’ hearts and minds. Relics will be visible inside display cases encircling a life-size Buddha statue.
The Dalai Lama donated relics of the historical Buddha, Gautama Siddartha, to the Maitreya Project.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the project, is steward of the collection and hopes that people all around the world will have the opportunity to view the relics before they are housed in the statue, according to the project website, www.maitreyaproject.org. The relics will be displayed at temples, meditation centres and other public venues as they travel the world.
