And he laid the foundation for the basic teachings of Buddhism, Sakyamuni , which is known by the world as the founder of Buddhism.
When Shakyamuni was alive, he preached the Dharma oral teachings of the body. He had countless disciples in his life. After his death at the age of 80, he was cremated. People found pearl-shaped gems in their remains.
Later, people posted some After the is cremated, the will also produce this colorful and dazzling crystal . The disciples named them after "relics" and regarded them as holy relics.
People in Buddhism generally believe that " Relics " is cultivated by merit of practice, but modern science has unveiled the mystery of this "sacred object".
What is the "relics" that have been passed down for thousands of years? How is it generated? Below
, let’s explore the secrets of “relics” together.
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relics? Relics?
Relic, relic, only a word difference, but it must not be confused.
Relic is the transliteration of Sanskrit , is also called "Sheliro" or "Sriro" , which translates to the deceased's corpse.
According to "Shi Agama Sutra" , the relics are the remains of the cremation of the grandmother of the King Persenathian .
The word "relics" itself has nothing special, But believers put their worship of Shiying Muni on the Buddha's relics, and the relics gradually became sacred .
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And what we are talking about now mainly refers to bone relics, hair relics and meat relics. In fact, hair, bones, etc. after death can be called relics, but most of them refer to the remains of Buddhas or monks.
We should be familiar with the so-called " meat relic ".
In 2015, a photo of the body of the Lord Long Putuo on the Internet caused a sensation in society.
This venerable passed away 333 years ago and still has his eyes open. Not only that, His hair and nails are still growing . The word "miracle" is not enough to express people's shock.
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It is said that The King of Thailand will personally shave his hair for this "living Buddha in the flesh" every year, and this Venerable has always maintained a meditation posture, with a vivid expression as before.
"Living Buddha in the flesh" can be said to have attracted countless devout believers. There is also a phenomenon in which the body of the enlightened monks is not damaged after the death of their bodies .
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the first Buddhist monk to come to China to preach Shemoteng passed away and his body did not rot. Since taking Moteng, there have been monks who have immortalized their bodies after passing away in all dynasties.
Kang Senghui , Tang Dynasty , , the fourth ancestor of Zen Buddhism, and the fifth ancestor Hongren, their intact bodies were preserved until the Ming and Qing dynasties.
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After modern turmoil, the body of Shooteng and others has no trace.
, and the existing "living Buddhas of the flesh" are only , , , 6th Patriarch Huineng, , Master Dantian, , , , , , , , , , , , , html.
However, in Buddhism, "the body does not corrupt" is not a relics, but is in " extinction ".
Buddhism believes that because life in "destruction" will not die, their original consciousness " Alaya consciousness" still exists , so it is no different from before his death.
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"A person who has been destroyed and has been able to come out of meditation even for tens of millions of years, is no different from a living person."
According to legend, The great disciple of Buddha Mahakasyapa was ordered by Buddha and "entered to meditation" , waiting for the arrival of Maitreya Buddha .
In addition to such "full body relics", there are also relics such as "Buddha finger bones", "Buddhist tooth ". When believers get these relics, they usually build pagodas and worship them for life.
Buddhism has a long history in China, and the Chinese people have long worshipped relics.
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html l0 relics and relics make people confused. relics in most cases refer to bone relics, that is, the crystals produced by the remains after cremation, , , and relics are a kind of grain .Legend . After the death of some monks, they can obtain various relics from their ashes, , at least dozens, and at most hundreds.
In some classics, After the death of Buddha Shakyamuni, the disciples burned 84,000 relics from his ashes, and these relics were brought to all over the world by his believers.
scam? Holy objects?
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In 1960, the archaeological team accidentally discovered an underground palace in Ganlu Temple. Later, they found more than 700 relics in , which made a large number of experts and scholars come to visit.
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After in-depth research, some scholars confirmed that 11 relics in were from Buddha Shakyamuni , while the other part was from Changgan Temple and Zen Temple in Nanjing.
On the Internet, some people say that relics are actually a ridiculous scam . They are some objects carried by monks when cremated, and they are formed after high temperature calcination.
What's more, they believe that monks will swallow relics during their lifetime.
. These statements are too generalized and lack basis, and are untenable.
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Non-Buddhist people think that relics are just a scam, probably because They believe that relics have scientific methods of producing relics, not so-called great merits .
From a scientific point of view, the human bones are composed of calcium, phosphorus and other components, while the bones are composed of calcium phosphate. A person can be regarded as a collection of more than 60 kinds of chemical elements .
So, where does "relics" come from?
In the article "The Mystery of "Relics"" , the author decided to understand what the Relics are.
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After the death of a friend's mother, he burned a lot of "relics" , and his friend specially invited him to come and see it.
According to this friend, His mother was ill in bed all year round and finally believed in Buddhism . The friend himself also believed in Buddhism very much and often invited some Buddhists to the home to help the elderly "chant".
Friends also emphasized that the situation when my mother died of illness was consistent with the statement recorded in Buddhism. They applied "corne sand" to their mother. The bones were cremated in color, and after cremation, they produced a large number of "relics".
Therefore, my friend firmly believes that my mother has fulfilled her merits and has gone to the Pure Land of Bliss in the West.
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friend said it was certain, but after a closer look, the author found that these relics of are very different from the relics he generally knows .
has large pigment deposits on the old man's bones, and he can also see something embedded in these bones, and these things are granular.
However, these particles are not only very irregular, they have no gloss and are not transparent at all. More precisely, they are more like some coke or slag.
The author brought these "relics" and found experienced crematorium workers to verify it. but the workers are no longer surprised by this.
It turns out that human bones are not white in the general sense.
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Usually, the bones of children appear white, while the elderly are dark and yellow, and the bones of cancer patients may even turn black and gray. There are also some human bones with other colors, because they are sick and taken medicine.
. Because my friend's mother took various medicines all year round, the metal particles in some medicines slowly deposited into the bones. Finally, after high temperature burning, the bones had strange colors.
As for those "relics", experienced workers believe that is likely to be formed by the decoration on the body being burned and dripped on the bones.
Then, the author asked them if they had seen real relics.
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Workers have said that even some Buddhist believers cannot find anything special after cremation.
But a worker told the author that There was an abbot who was cremated and produced more than a dozen beads like beads. Everyone who saw them said that those beads were the legendary relics.
, and the author can basically conclude that the friend’s mother did not burn the so-called relics. The particles of are all caused by drugs or some external factors.
In addition, a friend also mentioned that he painted his mother with "emerald". The main ingredient of sand is silica the same as glass.
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at the end of the article said that he suspected that the so-called relics were just glass beads caused by various reasons, but because the experiment could not be carried out, he just kept a skeptical attitude.
science? Belief?
Relics are regarded as sacred objects by Buddhism and are properly worshipped, and are difficult to be tested by instruments. Therefore, until now people still debate the composition and origin of the relics.
Modern science lets us attack those unshakable "truths" that once were. They prove that many legends are nonsense, and we are also keen on using science to eradicate the so-called "forbidden zones".
So, we must also argue the source of the relics. is probably because the relics only appear on the monks who have attained enlightenment, and people become more and more curious about them.
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Some people say that Men’s long-term vegetarianism caused organ stones , and finally the stones were burned into crystals to produce relics.
Some people also say that monks are vegetarian, and after years of accumulation, they will form a certain chemical substance in their body. This chemical substance will eventually become a relics after being roasted by flames.
However, believers who believe in Buddhism do not agree with these scientific views.
Buddhist believers believe that relics are a substance that transcends the world . When those monks who have attained enlightenment resonate with the Buddha world, this magical thing will be produced after death.
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Many people think they are pedantic and regard them as people poisoned by feudal thought.
In modern society, we have to admit that is excellent in science and technology , and has to admit that there are still some wonderful phenomena that cannot be explained by science.
The purpose of science is to understand the world and transform the world. When science was not yet popular, almost all the people were poisoned by feudal ideas.
Because they did not have enough knowledge of science , in ancient times, some people were sacrificed to gods to protect their peace, while others took mercury , elixirs and other poisons to achieve the purpose of immortality.
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This behavior is now considered ridiculous. The views of Buddhist believers on relics are in the eyes of many people who have been poisoned by feudalism.
However, can corrupt feudal thoughts completely represent religious beliefs?
The answer is no. On the contrary, modern society also maintains a respectful attitude towards religious beliefs.
In 1979, my country established the first formal religious association . As a formal academic group, it is under the supervision of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences .
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From then on, " Chinese Buddhist Association " and " Chinese Taoist Association " have begun to become active in the country of the motherland. We agree that science and technology are the primary productive force , and at the same time respect religious belief , and this is the blooming of flowers and the contending of a hundred schools of thought.
And, science and religion are not opposites.
Madame Curie is a great scientist in the world who lifts weight and weight, and her parents both believe in Jesus . Therefore, Madame Curie is also a devout Christian, but this does not affect her exploring science .
Some people believe that Madame Curie should devote herself to science instead of being a so-called Christian, but Madame Curie has worked on science for life and believed in Christ for life.
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Finally, she and her husband shared the methods and research results of radium to the whole world. Isn’t this promoting Christian love?
There are many scientists in the world who have their own religious beliefs, but this does not affect their exploration of science.
Are Jesus, Allah, and Buddha all "scam"? The answer to this question is no longer important.
The composition of "relics" itself is not concerned with . This is the belief given to them by Buddhism. It is precisely because of this that relics appear extremely sacred.
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And we should also respect relics just like respecting religious beliefs.
So, is it blasphemy for our scientific analysis of relics? Is it disrespectful?
The answer is naturally no, and science is always curious about unknown things.
In the article "The Mystery of "Relics"", the author's friend believes in Buddhism. He believes in the production of "Relics" after his mother's cremation and is unquestionable.
The author respects their beliefs and maintains a respectful attitude , and his friends are happy to work with the author to reveal the true face of "relics".
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Science and religion are not opposites. Multiple discussions are conducive to the vigorous development of ideas. discussion should not just be to compete for the sake of high and low, but to collide ideas to achieve sublimation of .
Buddhist culture has a long history and is an integral part of Chinese culture.
If we look at it from a scientific perspective, the relics are indeed not the embodiment of great merit, but is not that true, but not that false. It is just a sustenance of faith. .
We cannot regard the relics as a scam and refer to nonsense just because they are not the incarnation of great merit.
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We should respect the beliefs of Buddhists and should also attach great importance to relics, just like we respect the Hui people, so we do not eat pork in front of them.
pigs are of great significance to Hui people , and the relics are the same for Buddhists.