The ancient Buddhist relics are said to provide a profound sense of inner peace and compassion to the people who visit them. These shiny pearl-like objects were found with the cremated remains of the Buddha and other spiritual masters thousands of years ago.
From March 11 to 20, more than 1,000 of these sacred relics will be on display at the Children’s Museum in San José. The exhibition is part of the Heart Shrine Relic Tour, which has taken the objects to devotees around the world since 2001.
Renata Beffa, who invited the tour of holy relics to Costa Rica, said Buddha and his disciples left the shiny objects on purpose so that people could experience their energy after their deaths. The pearls were found in the ashes after their bodies were cremated.
“This just happens when someone is very, very spiritual,” she said.
People from all faiths and spiritual traditions are welcome to visit the relics and experience their blessings of wisdom and peace.
The relic tour is part of the Maitreya Project, an initiative to bring long-term social and economic benefits to northern India and to contribute to the spiritual well-being of the world. The project aims to provide education, health care, employment, commerce and tourism opportunities to villages in northern India. Additionally, the project will help build a 500-foot bronze statue of the future Buddha Maitreya in Kushinagar, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and a 150-foot statue of Maitreya in Bodh Gaya, Bihar state. The word “maitreya” means loving-kindness, and comes from the Sanskrit word “maitri.” The Heart Shrine Relic Tour, which is the core of the Maitreya Project, aims to spread loving-kindness and world peace through sharing the blessings and sacred energy of the Buddhist relics.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, director of the Maitreya Project, collected the relics from Buddhist temples and living Buddhist masters from all over the world. The relics will eventually be enshrined inside the statue being built in Kushinagar.
The inauguration ceremony will be held March 11 at 6 p.m. at the Children’s Museum at the north end of Calle 4 in San José. For more information, contact Beffa at renata_beffa@yahoo.com, 8837-9610 or 8820-2920, or visit the Maitreya Project’s website at www.maitreyaproject.org.
Animal lovers will be happy to know that all creatures can share in the love and compassion that emanate from these holy objects. On Tuesday, March 15, visitors can bring their pets to the front of the museum to receive the relics’ blessings.
