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View submission: Do you believe in the relics?
It felt a bit more "out there" compared to the rest of what I have learned about Buddhism.
If you are doing learning mostly from the internet/books, you may wind up in a bubble that excludes very common practices like relic worship.
Relic worship originates from the time of the Buddha, but of course it really ramped up after he passed away. Here are some suttas related to it:
I believe that relics are a part of all traditional Buddhist traditions (i.e. not secular Buddhism, etc). In the Tibetan tradition the practice of placing a relic chamber on someone's head for blessings is very common. In Theravada this is unheard of.
1: http://index.readingfaithfully.org/#relics
2: http://index.readingfaithfully.org/#stupa-thupa
In some traditions, like Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka, people accept that the relics of the Buddha, his contemporary disciples, and arahats that lived in Sri Lanka in the ancient past are real. However unlike the Thai tradition, they don't believe that relics spontaneously appear or multiply themselves.
In Sri Lanka, part of the standard daily liturgy contains:
*Cetiya Vandanā: Paying Homage to Stupas චේතිය වන්දනාව:*
**Vandāmi cetiyaṃ sabbaṃ – Sabbaṭhānesu patiṭṭhitaṃ**
I show my humble reverence to all the stupas, in all of the places that they stand, the bodily relics, the Great Bodhi Tree, and all the Buddha images forever.
*Bodhi Vandanā: Paying Homage to the Bodhi Tree බෝධි වන්දනාව:*
**Yassa mūle nisinno va – Sabbāri vijayaṃ akā,**
I show my reverence to this Bodhi–tree seated under which the Teacher attained full Enlightenment by overcoming all defilements.
**Ime ete Mahā Bodhi – Loka nāthena pūjitā,**
I, too, honor this great Bodhi–tree, which was honoured by the Leader of the World. My homage to thee, O king of Bodhi Trees.
In the Sri Lankan tradition (and maybe others) there are three types of relics. First, the bodily relics like bone, teeth and hair. Then there are the things that the Buddha used, like his belt, almsbowl, and even the Bodhi tree. Finally, all Buddha statues are considered to be a type of representational relic.
It's not surprising that someone might have doubts about the authenticity of all the bodily relics of the Buddha that are spread around the world. But in a worship setting, this can be handled by simply having confidence that the Buddha existed and that relics *do exist somewhere* and those (wherever they are) are what is being worshiped.
Of course if you don't believe that the Buddha existed at all, then that's the first hump to get over.
There's nothing here!