shari　舎利

KEY WORD :　 art history / general terms

Also sari, busshari 仏舎利. Sanskrit sarira, dhatu 駄都. The bones of the Buddha. After the death of Buddha *Shaka 釈迦, his body was cremated, and his remains widely dispersed. According to Buddhist history, the Indian king Ashoka, Aiku-ou 阿育王 ordered the bones to be recovered, redistributed to all areas of the Buddhist world, and enshrined in stupas. These reliquary stupas were the earliest form of Buddhist art, predating all statues and images of Buddha, and were the focus for Buddhist worship. Even after the development of elaborate imagery and architecture, faith in the power of the shari remained central to Buddhist thought. Instead of placing shari in the foundations of a stupa, it was sometimes housed in a reliquary *shari youki 舎利容器, or a special tower-shaped vessel *sharitou 舎利塔. A ceremony known as sharie 舎利会 was carried out for the dedication of a sharitou. Frequently, tiny balls of gold and silver, agate, crystal or pearl were used as a substitute for the actual bones of Buddha, and are also known as shari.

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*bussharitou 仏舎利塔

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