On 12/06/2010, the precious skull relic of the Buddha, rediscovered in 2008, was finally displayed before the whole world in a grand ceremony at Qixia Monastery of Nanjing, China. It was found in an ancient King Asoka Stupa hidden in the ruins of Dabao'en Monastery, located in another part of old Nanjing. This skull relic is the only one of its kind existing in the world. It shall be put on display at Qixia Monastery for one month before being returned permanently to its original location - the rebuilt Dabao'en Monastery.The skull relic was first brought to China from Northern India by Venerable Danapala during the early Song Dynasty, more than a thousand years ago. The Liuli Pagoda housing the King Asoka Stupa in Dabao'en Monastery was built during the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty. However it was destroyed during the Taiping rebellion of the late Qing Dynasty in 1864.
After centuries of turmoil, it was only until 2008 that a team of archaeologists managed to unearth the stupa, hidden underneath the ruins where the pagoda used to be. This rediscovery holds great significance in the history of Buddhism and will be rejoiced by men and gods alike for a long time to come.
Besides the Buddha's skull relic, his other crystalline relics were found within a glass bottle discovered inside the King Asoka Stupa. Both the skull relic and the glass bottle will be on public display together. It would be of great merit for all sentient beings in that region to go see and venerate them.
2 comments:
I have reservations on authenticity of the relic. It's from China!! It could be a fake and all Buddhists would be laughing stock when scientific test confirm it's just some piece of animal bone.
There are historical records documenting the skull relic being brought to China from India, just like the tooth relic in Beijing. The chances of such an important religious object being fake is not very high.
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