List of Tables |
xi |
Preface |
xiii |
Note and Abbreviations |
xix |
Introduction: Relics of the Buddha |
1 |
Relics and the Biographical Process |
5 |
Types of Buddha Relics |
8 |
Bones and Books |
8 |
Bones and Beads |
10 |
Relics, Bones, and Burial Practices in India and Beyond |
12 |
Bones and Bodies |
16 |
Relics and Images |
18 |
Limitations of This Study |
20 |
Outline |
22 |
Relics of Previous Buddhas |
25 |
Sakyamuni and His Predecessors |
25 |
Past Buddhas, Relics, and Soteriology |
30 |
The Case of Kasyapa and His Stupa |
32 |
Two Buddhas at Once |
36 |
Relics and the Spread of the Tradition |
39 |
Relics Dispersed and Not Dispersed |
44 |
Relics and Compassion |
47 |
Conclusion |
48 |
Relics of the Bodhisattva |
50 |
Relics and the Jatakas |
51 |
Jataka Stupas in North India |
52 |
Sumedha's Hair |
55 |
The Bodhisattva's Bones |
56 |
Bodhisattva Relics in the Final Birth as Gautama |
60 |
The Embryo in the Relic or the Relic as Embryo |
63 |
The Relic of the Bodhisattva's Hairknot |
65 |
Relics and the Certainty of Buddhahood |
68 |
Conclusion |
69 |
Relics of the Still-Living Buddha: Hairs and Footprints |
71 |
Hair and Nail Relics |
72 |
Trapusa and Bhallika |
73 |
The Hair Relics at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda |
76 |
Sri Lankan Traditions |
80 |
The Chronicle of the Six Hair Relics |
82 |
Footprints |
85 |
The Saccabandha and Nammadafootprints |
90 |
The Footprint on Adam's Peak |
92 |
Conclusion |
94 |
The Parinirvana of the Buddha |
98 |
The Duties to the Corpse |
99 |
The Funeral of a Cakravartin |
100 |
The Corpse's Clothing |
101 |
The Iron Coffin |
106 |
The Veneration of the Buddha's Body |
110 |
Cremation |
115 |
Collection, Dispute, and Distribution: The "War of the Relics" |
116 |
The Construction of the Stupas |
121 |
Conclusion |
122 |
Asoka and the Buddha Relics |
124 |
The Collection of the Relics |
125 |
The Relics at Ramagrama |
126 |
The Underground Chamber of Mahakasyapa and Ajatasatru |
127 |
Relic Security and the Roman Robots |
132 |
The Construction of the 84,000 Stupas |
136 |
The Rupakaya and the Dharmakaya |
138 |
The "Unveiling of the World" and the Descent from Trayastrimsa Heaven |
139 |
The Divine Eye and the Buddha's Smile |
141 |
From Centrifugality to Centripetality: The Power of Compassion |
142 |
The Festival of the Relics |
144 |
Asoka's Autocremation |
147 |
Conclusion |
148 |
Predestined Relics: The Extension of the Buddha's Life Story in Some Sri Lankan Traditions |
150 |
The Transplanting of the Bodhi Tree and the Multiplication of Relics |
152 |
The Collarbone Relic and Its Enshrinement in the Thuparama |
157 |
Dutthagamani, the Ramagrama Relics, and the Mahathupa |
160 |
The Building of the Stupa |
161 |
The Making of the Relic Chamber |
164 |
The Acquisition and Enshrining of the Relics |
166 |
The Death of Dutthagamani and Burial ad Sanctos |
171 |
Conclusion |
175 |
Further Extensions of the Buddha's Life Story: Some Tooth Relic Traditions |
179 |
The Kashmiri Tooth: Relics and Elephants |
182 |
The Eyeteeth of the Buddha |
185 |
Daoxuan's Tooth |
187 |
The Kalingan / Sri Lankan Tooth |
190 |
Relics and Rule |
196 |
Puja and Perahera: God, King, and Monk |
199 |
Personal Piety |
203 |
The Tours of the Chinese Tooth |
205 |
Conclusion |
210 |
Relics and Eschatology |
211 |
The Buddha's Bowl: A Recycled Relic |
211 |
The Buddha's Robe |
216 |
Mahakasyapa and the Buddha's Robe |
218 |
The Decline of the Dharma and the Parinirvana of the Relics |
221 |
Conclusion |
226 |
Conclusions |
229 |
Relics and the Biographical Process |
229 |
Relics and Buddhology |
230 |
Relics and the Spread of Buddhism |
231 |
The Episodic Nature of Buddha-relics |
232 |
Relics and the Demands of Darsan |
234 |
Relics and the Post-liminal State |
235 |
Relics and Polity |
235 |
Strategies of Legitimation |
236 |
Relics as Performative Objects |
238 |
The Dialectic of Continuity and Discontinuity |
239 |
Bibliography |
241 |
Index |
279 |