![\"Tibetan](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2012\/10\/relics_tibetan_buddhism.jpg\" "\\"relics_tibetan_buddhism\\"")
Buddhist<\/a> Relics in India\" width=\"300\" height=\"220\"><\/a>It\u2019s hard to know just where to begin with the question of relics in Buddhism. To believe, or not to believe, perhaps.<\/p>\n
I find that I, as an ex-Catholic, ex-anti-everything, quasi-Buddhist practitioner, don\u2019t buy into relics that much. To be honest, they look creepy and remind me too much of the odd veneration of dead people that I found so very disturbing in my teens as a quasi-Catholic<\/strong>. Do such \u2018relics\u2019 really validate a religion? <\/span>The site hosting these images<\/a> certainly thinks so, stating, in broken English: \u201cThe relics of Lhadam Palden Choegyal Tulku\u2019s\u00a0speak it all against the challenges of\u00a0critics\u00a0 of religions. It is unexplainable\u00a0to see with our naked eyes the formation of various statues on the remains and skull of\u00a0Lhadam Palden Choegyal Tulku.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Have a look<\/a>. What do you think?<\/p>\n My immediate response, when an American-born Tibetan monk friend of mine posted this on facebook was: \u201cI may be the horrible skeptic here, but I\u2019d love to see these analyzed in a lab\u2026 of course if I wanted to be cynical I would note the even more amazing manifestation of cash notes around said relics.\u201d<\/strong> And to be fair, my friend noted that they come from the Tibetan Children\u2019s Village<\/a>, a very worthy charitable organization. My response, still very skeptical was, \u201cWell if [the Virgin] Mary appeared on a cheese sandwich in the Pope\u2019s own kitchen\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The responses of other friends and fellow Buddhists was more supportive of the relics, along the lines of \u201cwow, how wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n For some reason I expected my friend who posted this, and other friends, to somehow accept my skepticism and endorse it themselves.<\/strong> But this really didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n After the last fifty or so years, in which religion has been cast under a close light and so many of these \u2018miracles\u2019 \u2013 where objectively examined \u2013 were seen as frauds, I can\u2019t help but wonder why my Buddhist friends wouldn\u2019t share the same skepticism I have, even for objects and people within their own faith. I mean, after all, people are willing to fake (and believe in) some pretty strange stuff:<\/p>\n Why not carve up some Buddha statues (perhaps even using human skulls, as is possible in India) and toss them into the cremation fire of a great monk, or just say they were removed from the ashes afterward? Of course it\u2019s dishonest, but\u2026 Just google \u201cfake gurus\u201d and you\u2019ll find about 2 million links to discussions of fraud in Indian religions, often by legitimate teachers. Those of us who know about Western receptions of new religions will see that India is just as prone, or even more so, to the kind of exaggerated claims and slight of hand that so many others fall prey to in their quest for religious grounding.<\/strong> My only advice is: be careful. Be very careful.<\/p>\n<\/a>