Giving ‘Em The Finger

Buddhists in Taiwan are celebrating as a relic believed to be the finger of the Buddha is now touring Taipei. Supposedly some Indian monks saved the bone after the cremation of Buddha. The practice of physical relics from deceased religious figures is nothing new – Christian pilgrims often sold relics of saints such as pieces of flesh or bones. (Many of which were fake.) Certainly, if this is a piece of the Buddha it is truly an intresting link to the past. (One almost wonders if there isn’t some DNA left in the relic – how would the world react to a cloned Buddha?)