[Buddha-l] more discussion on terms for Holy Objects in Buddhism

[Sally McAra]

Hi there,

Thanks to all who replied. I am replying to most of the posts in a 
single post, since I get the emails in Digest form it seemed the most 
practical way to reply.

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-Michael Paris wrote "Your original message appeared directed to those 
qualified to answer, rather than addressed to any with some experience 
or thoughts in the subject."

Quite right, I know I have digressed from my original inquiry about 
terminology, but I wanted to encourage (provoke) more people to say what 
they thought around the topic more generally. Now that I am 
participating in discussion rather than just sending out a brief 
inquiry, I may as well reflect some more…

--

-Michael Paris wrote that he was inspired by a beautiful old catholic 
cathedral."That couldn't be more different from anything 'worldly' - 
business, homes, offices. The atmosphere inside - quiet, with a hint of 
echo – is religious, spiritual at least. Other-worldly, so to speak."

I know what you mean, I find some of those places beautiful, too (except 
not baroque,which is really not my cuppa!). But I find more of a sense 
of peace from being in the mountains or forest. The trouble is with 
built places that are meant to inspire awe, wonder, admiration, etc is 
that there may be awful things beneath the surface. For example, when I 
see gold on altars in Catholic churches, I can't help but think of the 
genocide of the Aztecs & Incas, and how some of their gold ended up in 
Cathedrals. I have also heard of impoverished laypeople in the Buddhist 
world borrowing money to buy gifts, etc etc for the monks (and 
presumably also for the temples, statues, stupas etc) while their own 
children are starving or going without basic healthcare, education etc.

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-Michael Paris wrote "Fairly recently a saint's relic - in a reliquary 
of course - was in Dallas for a days. The Catholic faithful turned out 
by the thousands. Clearly, such holy items have appeal to a significant 
number of people, and have for millenia. Why is another question. IMHO 
that's a question for psychology, perhaps sociology as well. Religion is 
complex and not entirely rational."

Yes they had (some of) St Teresa of Lisieux' bones here in NZ recently, 
I wanted to go visit but didn't make it there. And of course, as part of 
my research I’ve helped with the running of some Buddhist relic 
exhibitions and noted how different communities respond differently to 
them… (and how diverse the responses can be even within one group. At 
one such event, the intended audience *stayed away* in droves!)

-"In any event, I'm not sure you can see it from the participants' point 
of view. It may be entirely subjective, and can't be shared."

You're quite right, I cannot experience someone else's experience. I 
should have spelt out more precisely that I am trying to learn about 
their points of view from their *expressions* (writings, talk, 
behaviour, etc.) of their experience.

--

Thank you to Richard Nance and Stephen Hodge for your suggestions about 
the sources, terms, some helpful leads there. I am aware that the way 
Lama Zopa (or I, for that matter) might categorise things will be 
different from the way they did at the time such things were written, 
and that maybe the category I'm interested in does not exist… Perhaps I 
should be trying to find out more about the sources of Lama Zopa's "holy 
object" category via his organization…

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Curt wrote - 'Perhaps you are looking for an adjective rather than a 
noun. As in "holy" or "sacred" or "religious". In fact the original 
request was for "terms for holy/sacred/religious objects". Especially 
given that original phrasing there's no particular reason to assume that 
there must be a specific noun for "holy objects" - so long as there is 
an equivalent adjective for "holy".'

In response to that, I'd say yes, the adjective on its own would also be 
useful; I just spoke with someone who speaks Hindi and he said for 
Hindus a temple is not so much 'sacred' as a 'ritually clean' space. So 
I'm aware that the categories used in English might not have the same 
meanings in Sanskrit, the old problem of cross-cultural translation.

Any suggestions for how a Sanskrit-speaking Buddhist of the kind of bent 
that favours such things as consecrated objects for use as aids to 
practicing the Dharma? And is there a comparison for forms of Hinduism 
that do that?

--

Thanks Rob for the reference, and Kate for the comment about the 3-D 
mandala (it seems that's a pretty common way of describing stupas, I’ve 
seen that a lot).

Cheers

Sally

-- 
Sally McAra
PhD candidate
Department of Anthropology
Faculty of Arts
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland 1001
New Zealand

Tel: 64-9 373 7599  Ext 88531
www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/anthro/Student%20Details/StudentPages/SallyMcara.htm