Geumgangsan Jeonseokbee

[The relics of the Ten Great Disciples of Buddha] The Ten Great Disciples of Buddha, as known to everyone, each had his own merits and achievements in practice. When the Buddha was alive, they helped the Buddha to spread Buddhism and teach sentient beings. The relics of the ten great disciples enshrined in the lecture hall all have certificates of certification from the Myanmar Relic Museum. The relics of the ten great disciples of Buddha were passed down from generation to generation. They were respectfully offered by countless Dharma protectors before they were able to be passed down to the present day and then travel across the ocean to the Kaohsiung Lecture Hall.

When we look upon and pay homage to the relics, have we ever thought that after the Nirvana of the great Arhats, they still left behind various relics to save sentient beings in the future Dharma-Ending Age? With such a compassionate mind, they never abandon sentient beings, and they travel through time and space to establish a connection with sentient beings with affinity in the form of relics.

The Buddha built a pagoda with Sariputra's relics and placed it next to the Jetavana Monastery for people to admire and worship.

Venerable Maudgalyayana understood that supernatural powers could not defeat karma, so when the assassin attacked, he gave up the protection of his supernatural powers and calmly accepted the karma accumulated over many lifetimes. At that time, the Buddha appeared and asked the Venerable to use his meditation power to recover his body. So he bowed to the Buddha in the air and turned himself into flames. From the flames emerged unusual dark brown relics that fell from the sky, about 2-8mm in size.

• Venerable Ananda Shariputra: Venerable Ananda, who was known as “the first in knowledge”, was originally the son of King Paddy’s son, the cousin of the Buddha. When the Buddha was 55 years old (25 years after enlightenment), Ananda began to serve the Buddha exclusively. Because of his extraordinary memory, the Buddha praised him as the first in five aspects: knowledge, strong memory, dignity, strong determination and good service. When Ananda was about 120 years old in his later years, he announced that he would enter Nirvana. He was going from Magadha to Vaisali via the Ganges. When he was rowing in the middle of the river, he thought that if he was cremated in any country, it would cause disputes between the two countries. So he jumped from the boat into the air and cremated himself. His relics were automatically divided in front of the kings of the two countries. The two countries built pagodas to worship him. Ananda's relics were gray in color and about 3-8mm in size.

Venerable Guangqin is a famous ascetic monk in modern Taiwan. He is recognized and praised as "the national treasure of Buddhism". The Master came to Taiwan in 1947 and has been preaching Buddhism for forty years. He is a well-known monk in Taiwan. In Taiwan, old monks lead a simple life and eat fruits on a daily basis, so they are known as "fruit masters." When the master was young and practicing asceticism in Qingyuan Mountain in Quanzhou, the locals called him "Tiger Tamer". The old monk meditated in a cave and often entered a state of meditation. When the old monk reached his later years, he would sometimes spend the night indoors or in the corridor, but he would still usually sit rather than lie down, which is commonly known as "not lying down on a bed." On February 13, 1986, the old monk had a clear vision, was calm and serene, with nothing unusual. At two o'clock in the afternoon, he said to the people around him: "There is no coming and no going, nothing is wrong." After saying this, he nodded and smiled at his disciples, and closed his eyes in peace. After a long while, everyone realized that the old monk had passed away peacefully amid the sound of everyone's chanting. He was ninety-five years old. After the old monk was cremated, a large number of relics and relic flowers were burned out for believers to admire. This relic museum houses the old monk’s relic flowers and the additional relics that were derived from them later, which are quite precious.

Some of the relics offered in the Arhat Relics Lecture Hall are the relics of the great Arhats. Each of them has the power of precepts, concentration and wisdom.

The burned relics were of different shapes, sizes and colors. Some are round like stones, some are smooth like pearls, and some are even white like jade. One by one, they display the pure virtues of precepts, concentration and wisdom silently contained in the venerables, inspiring all living beings to concentrate on their practice with determination, and to realize that becoming an ordinary person or a saint depends on one mind. The karmic retribution of the physical body can be transformed into smoke and ashes, or it can be linked into solid, colorful, and pure white relics.

Everything is created by the mind. The true mind is pure and has complete nature. If you let go, you will be a citizen of the Lotus Kingdom. In the past life of the Five White Arhats, the hermit Sumita (the name of the Buddha's previous life) made a vow to repair the road when he heard that Dhāraṇī (Dānlāmkā) and his disciples would come to the City of Joy to accept offerings. When he saw Dhāraṇī and his disciples arriving, he spread his hair on the ground for them to walk on. Dhāraṇī gave him a prediction on the spot that he would become a Buddha in the future. At that time, there was a group of birds on a nearby tree. When they heard that Sumeru would attain Buddhahood after four asamkhyeya kalpas and one hundred thousand great kalpas, the group sang together in joy and agreed to practice hard together and praise and protect the Three Jewels. Therefore, they all attained enlightenment in this lifetime of the Buddha. The relics are secretly blessing and protecting all sentient beings who have a connection with them. As long as sentient beings have a connection with the Venerable Arhat in their past lives, they can feel an incredible blessing power.

Apart from the worldly dust, the public can get close to the Three Jewels and increase their blessings and wisdom... Under the leadership and education of Master Zongyang, the four groups of disciples attach equal importance to understanding and practice, and follow the Buddha's teachings to listen, think, and practice, develop bodhicitta, and practice all good deeds until they attain Buddhahood.