By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Precious Buddhist relics including a tooth of Buddha Shakyamuni, several teeth and bones of other Buddhas and revered relics known as ‘pearls from bones’ are on display here and set to draw thousands of visitors.
After an exhibition in St Petersburg, the 36 sacred relics were brought to the International Roerich Centre-Museum as part of the Heart Shrine Relic Tour, a series of shows organised worldwide by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual director of the Maitreya Project.
“This is an exceptional occasion. Buddhist relics are usually hidden from the eyes of the laity. The ‘pearls from bones’ are especially impressive,”said Lyudmila Shaposhnikova, director general of the Roerich Centre-Museum.
Buddhist temples and monasteries from around the world have donated Pearls from Bones – pearl-like bone and crystalline fragments that are often retrieved from the ashes of venerable lamas after cremation – in their possession to be immured in a bronze statue of Maitreya Buddha, to be erected in Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. At 152 metres, it will be India’s tallest statue.
“The tour will finish in 2008, after which the relics will be preserved in the central altar at the level of the heart chakra of Maitreya Buddha,” said Andy Melnik, the project coordinator.
Preliminary estimates put the cost of the huge Maitreya Temple at $250 million. Private donors have funded the project, Melnik added.
While the St Petersburg exhibition had attracted 5,000 visitors, the one in the Russian capital, from Aug 31 till Sep 9, is expected to draw a far greater number.