Overview
The official English Facebook page of Buddha Museum
Tags
- Religious Organization
Description
The Buddha Museum was constructed with the intention of enshrining the Buddha’s relic. After nine years of construction, it was officially opened on the 25th December 2011.
The Sanskrit word “sarira” refers to the relics of a sage, which usually appear in crystalized form. The relic is perceived as a sign of the sage’s spiritual cultivation over a lifetime.
According to the Biography of Sakyamuni Buddha, when the Buddha reached the age of 80, he announced the day that he will enter parinirvana . Fearing that the disciples will lose the guidance of their teacher, Ananda asked the Buddha what they should do after he entered parinirvana. After pondering over the matter, Buddha gave his final teaching, “After I enter parinirvana, and have been cremated, gather up my relic and build a stupa at the crossroads, so that those who see it can develop faith.”
Originally, this particular Buddha’s tooth relic was carefully hidden in India for more than one thousand years. In the 13th century, during the Muslim invasion to India, the relic was secretly taken from the great Buddhist college of Nalanda in India and brought to Tibet. It was enshrined in the Sakya Namgyal Monastery, which was destroyed in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution. A Tibetan lama, Kunga Dorje Rinpoche obtained the relic and then took it back to India, where he kept and protected the relic in secret for thirty years. With his advancing age, Kunga Dorje Rinpoche acknowledged the fact that he will not be able to build a temple to enshrine the relic in his lifetime. When Venerable Master Hsing Yun went to India to officiate the Triple Platform Full Ordination Ceremony in February 1998, Kunga Dorje Rinpoche entrusted Master Hsing Yun the Buddha’s tooth relic, together with a certificate authenticated by twelve other Rinpoches to authenticate the relic. Two months later, the relic was brought to Taiwan.
According to Master Hsing Yun, the Buddha Memorial Center serves to acquaint the public with the Buddha’s quantities, through which the Buddhist practice can be inspired. The Buddha Memorial Center was thus built not only to venerate the Buddha, but more importantly with the interests of sentient beings kept in mind.”
