| Welcome to From the Academy, a monthly newsletter for Premium subscribers offering a scholarly take on topics in Buddhist thought and practice. Each issue highlights a key theme and offers additional resources for in-depth exploration. This month, we examine the prominent role of relics in Buddhist practice, in the past and the present. |
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 | | The relics of Piprahwa Stupa, extracted, framed, and consigned to Sotheby’s HK for sale 7 May 2025 |
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Selling the Buddha?
On May 7, 2025, an auction of Buddhist relics—tiny, dazzling jewels taken from the Indian Piprahwa Stupa in 1898—was abruptly put on hold at Sotheby’s Maison, Hong Kong. The proposed sale raised numerous ethical and historical concerns, none more central than a disagreement over what constitutes a relic. Many Buddhists consider the Piprahwa jewels to be corporeal relics, or sarira—embodiments of the Buddha that remain in the world. For the auction house, however, the gems are treated as material artifacts, distinct from human remains and therefore suitable for sale.
The Buddha, Still Present
Across Buddhist traditions, relics are regarded as powerful objects that convey the presence of the Buddha and other revered figures from the past. The Mahavamsa, a Sri Lankan Buddhist chronicle, states: “If we see the relic, we behold the Buddha.” Tradition classifies a variety of materials as relics: bone fragments, crystalline “pearls,” and even clothes or ritual implements used by a Buddhist master. The Piprahwa jewels are considered as sacred as the bones and ashes they were found with and, according to the Sanskrit inscription on the stupa, are relics of the Buddha himself. |
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 | | Buddha's Tooth in the 10,000 Buddha Relics Collection |
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Enshrined in stupas, relics are revered as literal embodiments of enlightened presence, inspiring prayers and aspirations, circumambulations, and devotional rites. More broadly, relics reflect how objects, places, and symbols become sacred through the ways people relate to them. For many practitioners, this presence is not symbolic but real—relics are living links to the Buddha that invite reverence, offerings, and ongoing relationship.
Relics in Place and Transit
Like other facets of religious life, relics cannot be understood apart from broader networks of trade, travel, and political power. King Asoka (3rd century BCE) famously divided relics among numerous stupas that helped map his empire. As embodiments of the Buddha, relics have traveled with monks and merchants as key elements in the legitimization and transmission of Buddhism across cultures. Garments worn by past masters, along with their ritual implements, have also been highly valued as objects that transmit blessings and authority.
Relics continue to be displayed and venerated on ceremonial occasions. They are also sent on tour, bringing in revenue and prestige, but raising ethical tensions around control and access. At times, these concerns blend with questions of religious authority and state sovereignty, as seen in a recent dispute over an illicit image of the Buddha’s tooth. Outside the ritual setting of a stupa or shrine, it becomes difficult to appreciate the religious significance of relics. The extraction of sacred objects from their traditional sites—and their sale as art or collectables—has become controversial in the postcolonial era.
Perceiving the Sacred
For some, relics evoke superstition or idolatry; for others, they are sources of devotion, faith, and inspiration. Are sacred objects powerful in themselves, or only because of how they are perceived? How we answer that question shapes our relationship with relics. Traditional Buddhist narratives and modern authors acknowledge this ambiguity, suggesting that even mundane objects can offer blessings when they are seen as special. The multiple ways of viewing relics illustrate a key Buddhist principle: Perception, in many ways, shapes reality. |
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Recommended Material on Relics- Conan Cheong and Ashley Thompson, “Selling the Buddha’s Relics Today” (Journal of Buddhist Ethics Vol. 32, 2025). A discussion on the history and meaning of relics and the proposed auction of Piprahwa relics by Sotheby’s. These relics are also the subject of a National Geographic documentary “Bones of the Buddha” (2013).
- Alexandra Kaloyanides, “Objects of Conversion, Relics of Resistance” (Stanford Department of Religious Studies, 2017). In this video, Kaloyanides, a former Tricycle managing editor, discusses how Buddhists used relics in colonial-era Burma to resist Christian conversion efforts. You can also listen to a Tricycle podcast with Kaloyanides on relics and Theravada Buddhism.
- Dan Martin, “Pearls from Bones: Relics, Chortens, Tertons and the Signs of Saintly Death in Tibet” (Numen, Vol. 41, 1994). A scholarly paper on the types and significance of relics in Tibetan Buddhism, presenting differing historical perspectives, including those of Tibetans who have questioned their value and importance.
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