Relics of the Buddha.

• Author: Durt, Hubert
• Position: Book review

Relics of the Buddha. By JOHN S. STRONG. Princeton: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2004. Pp. xxii + 290. $39.50.

Relic worship is a form of religiosity that has recently attracted special attention. Several reasons for this may be suggested, among them a reaction against the gradual "Protestantization" of the Roman Catholic Church or, in the Buddhist case, a reaction against the tendency to make Buddhism disincarnate by presenting it exclusively as a philosophy or as a practice of meditation. On the topic of relics, Buddhist studies needed as general and as complete a synthesis as possible. John Strong, with his clarity of thought and expression and his substantial erudition, is well fitted for this task. He has recently published a biography of the Buddha, addressed to a large public, and in two previous books he offered detailed studies of two emblematic figures in the development of early Buddhism: the King (Asoka) and the Patriarch (Upagupta).

In the first five chapters of the present book, we have the most detailed description yet delivered of the role of relics in the mythic time of the Buddhas of the past, in the time of the Buddha (whose legendary life is interspersed with accounts about relics), and in the post-nirvana time until the reign of Asoka. After that, Buddhism becomes increasingly diversified, and history starts to coexist with legend.

Although he has in the past dealt in brief surveys with Buddhist relics in China and Japan, Strong chooses here instead to devote his sixth and seventh chapters to Southern Asia, especially Sri Lanka, where some of the most famous Buddhist relics continue to be venerated. It is true that this Lankan tradition benefits from a remarkable continuity. Moreover this tradition is accompanied by miracles and manipulations which can be compared to the extremely rich and multifarious tradition of Buddhist relics traceable in the Far East especially in Japan, from where Japanese and Western scholars (especially Bernard Faure and Brian K. Ruppert) have brought new and startling information. Easily understandable though it is, Strong's choice, which also leaves aside Tibetan Buddhism, somewhat limits the character of a Summa that some readers were expecting of such a book. I note, however, that besides the Sanskrit and Pali sources, Strong has made a large use of Chinese Buddhist texts of Indian origin or dealing with India.

Strong's approach is "biographical." Relics...