Hundreds View Relics of Buddha

December 8, 2006

Author: JEFF BRUMLEY

Source: Jacksonville Times-Union

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/120306/met_6593716.shtml

While thousands of Wake Forest and Georgia Tech faithful watched their teams play at Alltel Stadium on Saturday, the spiritually curious joined hundreds of Buddhists from the region at a Buddhist temple to view, venerate and be blessed by relics of Gautama Buddha.

That's the historical Buddha, whose remains are on display through Monday in a shrine at the Jacksonville Cambodian Buddhist Society on Clinton Avenue.

By 3 p.m. Saturday, about 300 people had come to see the sacred remnants of the sage who founded Buddhism in India around 500 B.C. The relics, along with those of other Buddhist masters dating back centuries, are part of the Heart Shrine Relic Tour that is traveling the nation.

For devout Buddhists, simply being in the presence of the relics has huge spiritual benefits, said Yifang Li, a native of Taiwan and one of two custodians of the remains.