Cetiya

Cetiya, "reminders" or "memorials" (Sanskrit caitya), are objects and places used by Buddhists to remember Gautama Buddha. According to Damrong Rajanubhab, four kinds are distinguished in the Pāli Canon: "Relic [Dhatu], Memorial [Paribhoga], Teaching [Dhamma], and votive [Udesaka]." Griswold, in contrast, states that three are traditional and the fourth, the Buddha Dhamma, was added later to remind monks that the true memory of Gautama Buddha can be found in his teachings. While these can be broadly called Buddhist symbolism, the emphasis tends to be on a historical connection to the Buddha and not a metaphysical one. In pre-Buddhist India caitya was a term for a shrine or holy place in the landscape, generally outdoors, inhabited by, or sacred to, a particular deity. In the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, near the end of his life the Buddha remarks to Ananda how beautiful are the various caitya round Vaishali. The sārīraka (Sanskrit śarīra) or dhātu cetiya, the remains of Gautama Buddha's body, are the category commonly considered "relics" today by Western observers, and were responsible for major forms of Buddhist art and symbolism, although they only constitute one of the three categories of reminders. Most frequently preserved parts of Buddha's body are tooth and bone, because these parts would remain after the rest of the body decayed. The relic of the tooth of the Buddha in Sri Lanka is the most notable site where a relic is visibly preserved, but hundreds of such sites were created, in the architectural form now called a stupa. In Thai, these stupas are called chedī, retaining the second half of the phrase dhātu cetiya; in Lao, they are called that after the first half. Beyond the stupa itself, sārīraka are used across the Buddhist world, in such quantity that not all could be legitimate; in this sense the sārīraka functions mainly as a symbol, with the importance of authenticity varying between cultures. The body parts of especially powerful monks are also called sārīraka, but these usually take on the form of bright jewels formed during the cremation of the body.