Source: CCTV.com

05-12-2009 09:20

A finger bone believed to belong to the founder of Buddhism was enshrined on Saturday in a 148-meter-high stupa, the world's highest, in an ancient temple in northwest China's Shaanxi province. The grand ceremony took place at 10 o'clock on Saturday morning at the Famen Temple. A sarira, a Buddhist relic, thought to be the middle finger of the left hand of Sakyamuni, was found in 1987 in a 1,000-year-old underground hall along with 2,000 ancient relics.

The finger bone sarira, concealed in a golden pagoda-shaped container, was carried by senior monks past 20 thousand people who had gathered to see the ceremony.

The sarira was put into an underground sanctum in the stupa. It would be presented to the public on significant dates or events.

A finger bone believed to belong to the founder of Buddhism was enshrined on Saturday in a 148-meter-high stupa, the world's highest, in an ancient temple in northwest China's Shaanxi province.

According to historical records, the sarira was kept in the underground sanctum in Famen Temple since 874 in the Tang Dynasty, before it was taken out in 1987.

Since then, the temple, 118 kilometers from the provincial capital of Xi'an, has become a holy place for Buddhists from around the world.

It took workers four years to build the 148-meter-high pagoda at a cost of more than 2 billion yuan, nearly 300 million U.S. dollars.

The stupa is shaped to resemble the common Buddhist gesture of putting the palms together with fingers pointing upwards. In the middle of the "palms" is the pagoda that houses the sarira.

Sarira, remains from the cremation of a Buddha or a saintly monk, are regarded as a treasured Buddhist relics.

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Editor:Zhao Yanchen