City of Ten Thousand Buddhas - Viewing the Sharira
| Gleaming sharira formed on the bones. |
On
August 6 (the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month), the annual
Ullambana Festival was held at the Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
in northern California. On that day the sharira (relics) of the late
Elder Master Venerable Hsuan Noble Hua, founder of the Sagely City,
were placed on public display.
According to historical
records, the people of ancient India used the term "sharira" to refer
to rice grains. After Shakyamuni entered Nirvana and his body was
cremated, there were bone relics resembling five-colored pearls,
luminous and hard, about the size of grains of rice, and they were
called sharira. It is recorded in the Sutras that sharira are gained
through being permeated by the cultivation of precepts, samadhi, and
wisdom. They are very rare and serve as supreme fields of blessings.
The Sutra of Golden Light says, "Sharira are what is important in the
merit and virtue of cultivating the Six Paramitas." Therefore, the
appearance of sharira after cremation proves that the cultivator has
considerable attainment in precepts, samadhi, and wisdom.
The
Venerable Master Hua's sharira (relics after cremation) include teeth
sharira. More than four thousand sharira seeds and several hundred
sharira clusters have been counted. The sharira are white, light
yellow, green, blue, black, and other colors. Some of the sharira which
are formed on the bones gleam like green jade; they are particularly
rare. One of the Venerable Master's disciples, moved by the sight of
the Master's teeth sharira, said, "In his life, the Venerable Master
lectured on the Sutras and spoke Dharma in several tens of thousands of
assemblies. No wonder his cremation yielded teeth relics!" Another
disciple commented, "The Venerable Master only spoke true and actual
words. That's why his teeth have become relics after cremation."
by Gong Tongzuo,
p. 113, "In Memory of Ven. Master Hua, Vol. II"
| More than four thousand sharira seeds and several hundred sharira clusters have been counted. |
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