Śarīra

Śarīra
Various śarīra from the Buddha and various students in the collection of the Maitreya Project
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	or
Simplified Chinese	or
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin shèlì
Tibetan name
Tibetan	རིང་བསྲེལ།
Transcriptions Wylie ring bsrel
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	Xá lợi
Korean name
Hangul
Hanja
Transcriptions Revised Romanization sari
Japanese name
Kanji	仏舎利
Hiragana
Transcriptions Romanization busshari
Sanskrit name
Sanskrit	śarīra
Thai name
Thai	พระบรมสารีริกธาตุ

Śarīra is a generic term referring to Buddhist relics, although in common usage it usually refers to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are purportedly found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters. Relics of the Buddha after cremation are termed dhātu in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. Śarīra are held to emanate or incite 'blessings' and 'grace' (Sanskrit: adhiṣṭhāna) within the mindstream and experience of those connected to them. Sarira are also believed to ward off evil in the Himalayan Buddhist tradition.

Śarīra originally meant "body" in Sankrit, but when used in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit texts to mean "relics", it is always used in the plural: śarīrāḥ. The term ringsel is a loanword from the Tibetan language. Both of these terms are ambiguous in English; they are generally used as synonyms, although according to some interpretations, ringsels are a subset of śarīras.

Śarīra can refer to:

Although the term śarīra can be used to refer to a wide variety of Buddhist relics, as listed above, it is generally used to refer to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are purportedly found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters.

These objects are considered relics of significant importance in many sects of Buddhism since they are believed to embody the spiritual knowledge, teachings, realizations or living essence of spiritual masters. They are taken as evidence of the masters' enlightenment and spiritual purity. Some believe that śarīras are deliberately left by the consciousness of a master for veneration, and that the beauty of the śarīras depends on how well the masters had cultivated their mind and souls. Śarīra come in a variety of colors, and some are even translucent.