International Buddhism Friendship Association


  • The Lineage Behind the Relics: Master Taixu, Master Yinshun, and the Journey to Chicago’s Chinatown

    The five sacred relics coming to Chicago this July arrive from the Master Taixu Relic Stupa at Triple Wisdom Hall in Penang, Malaysia. Master Taixu was an indispensable figure in the revitalization of modern Chinese Buddhism, and his stupa in Malaysia enshrines, alongside the relics of the Buddha and his great disciples, the relics of three twentieth century Dharma masters. These modern Dharma masters shape our practice at IBFA profoundly.

    Master Taixu — Reformer of Chinese Buddhism

    Master Taixu (1890–1947) devoted his life to returning Chinese Buddhism to the spirit of the historical Buddha’s teachings. In his time, Chinese Buddhism had grown distant from systematic study and ethical cultivation and was too entangled with funeral rites and popular custom. He called for reform of monastic education, of the relationship between clergy and laity, and of Buddhism’s engagement with ordinary people in the present world.

    The name given to Master Taixu’s movement is renjian fojiao, which translates to “humanistic Buddhism,” or “Buddhism for the human realm.” Rather than treating the Dharma primarily as a means of securing a favorable rebirth, Taixu taught that the cultivation of wisdom and compassion transforms human beings and, through them, the world they inhabit. Although he passed away in 1947 before seeing his reforms fully realized, the students he trained and the institutions he founded changed the direction of Chinese Buddhism for generations.

    After his passing, Master Taixu’s relics were enshrined in stupas at several locations. Among the most renowned is the Master Taixu Relic Stupa at Triple Wisdom Hall in Penang.

    Master Yinshun — Scholar of the Human Realm

    Among all of Taixu’s students, Master Yinshun (1906–2005) built most substantially on his teacher’s foundation. Master Yin Shun spent his life studying the earliest Buddhist texts, including the Āgamas, the Pali Nikāyas, and the Madhyamaka treatises, to understand the core of the Buddha’s instructions prior to their obscuration by millennia of commentary and cultural syncretism.

    According to Master Yin Shun, fidelity to the historical Buddha’s teachings allows for Buddhism to thoroughly re-engage with and improve the human world, as the Buddha of the Agamas and Nikayas was first and foremost teaching humans how to end human suffering. Master Yin Shun’s writings are central to how we understand and practice the Dharma at IBFA.

    Master Yinshun lived to the age of ninety-nine, passing away in 2005. His relics rest in the stupa at Triple Wisdom Hall alongside those of his teacher.

    Master Zhumo and Triple Wisdom Hall

    Master Zhumo (1913–2002), a disciple of Master Taixu, was born in Zhejiang Province and in 1954 traveled south to Penang, where he founded the Triple Wisdom Hall. That same year, he presided over a Dharma assembly in Thailand to enshrine Master Taixu’s relics, and later brought them to Malaysia to establish the Master Taixu Relic Stupa, which was completed in 1972. When Master Zhumo passed away peacefully in Penang in 2002, over one hundred relics were recovered from his cremation.

    Together, Master Taixu, Master Yin Shun, and Master Zhumo form a lineage of profound compassion, wisdom, scholarship, and action that reaches from ancient India to Chicago’s Chinatown. We are blessed to have the relics of these contemporary masters in our presence.

    The Buddha and Sacred Relics Veneration and Prayer Ceremony takes place July 25–26, 2026 in Chicago’s Chinatown. The sacred relics will be open for public veneration throughout both days. All are warmly welcome.

  • Two Paths, One Nibbana: Venerable Ānanda and Venerable Vakkula

    Among the disciples whose relics are traveling to Chicago this July, the Venerable Ānanda and the Venerable Vakkula represent two types of Dhamma practitioner: social and reclusive, respectively. Both inclinations have always found a home in the sangha, and both, when grounded in the Dharma, can lead to complete liberation. Venerable Ānanda and Venerable Vakkula were among the finest examples of each.

    Venerable Ānanda — Foremost in Learning and Memory

    Ānanda was the Buddha’s cousin and, for twenty-five years, his personal attendant. He began that role twenty years after the Buddha’s enlightenment and remained at his side until the end — carrying his robes, arranging his lodgings, managing the endless stream of people who came to hear the Dhamma, and listening to the Buddha’s words with unparalleled attentiveness.

    His memory was extraordinary. He could recall, with complete accuracy, every word the Buddha had ever spoken in his presence — the setting, the occasion, the precise teaching given. Every sutta in the Pali Canon opens with the phrase evaṃ me sutaṃ — “thus have I heard” — and those words are Ānanda’s own. They are his declaration that what follows is what he received directly, held faithfully in memory, and recited at the First Buddhist Council after the Buddha’s passing. Without Ānanda, it is difficult to imagine how the Buddha’s teachings would have survived their first generation.

    He was also the one who made the case for women to enter the monastic order. When Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī — the Buddha’s own foster mother — sought ordination and was initially refused, it was Ānanda who went to the Buddha on her behalf. The Buddha ultimately agreed. The bhikkhunī sangha — the order of nuns — exists in part because of Ānanda’s advocacy.

    For all his gifts, Ānanda carried one difficulty throughout his monastic life: his deep emotional attachment to the Buddha. Profound love for one’s teacher is itself a fetter on the path, and Ānanda had not yet fully released it. At the time of the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa, Ānanda had not yet attained arhatship.

    After the Buddha’s passing, the Venerable Mahākāśyapa moved to convene the First Buddhist Council to formally preserve and systematize the teachings. Ānanda was essential to this effort as no one else carried the breadth of what the Buddha had taught. But Mahākāśyapa set a condition: only those who had fully realized the fruits of the path could participate. Ānanda had not yet done so. In the days leading up to the council, Mahākāśyapa and others urged him on with great sincerity, knowing what was at stake. Ānanda threw himself into practice with complete urgency. On the eve of the council, having meditated through the night, final knowledge refusing to accede to his grasping, he finally gave up and lay down to rest.

    At the very moment his head was about to touch the pillow, he attained full liberation.

    He entered the assembly the next morning as an arahant and recited the entire body of the Buddha’s teachings from memory.

    Ānanda’s life is a reminder that while even the most profound talents cannot secure liberation, even the most profound attachments can be overcome when one relinquishes all expectations and simply lets things be as they are. For 2,500 years he has been revered not only as the preserver of the Dharma but as the embodiment of the sangha’s warmth: the one who remembered everything, advocated for everyone, and kept the human heart of the tradition alive.

    Venerable Vakkula — Foremost in Longevity and Freedom from Disease

    The Venerable Vakkula is one of the most legendary figures in the early Buddhist sangha. He lived to one hundred and sixty years old. In eighty years of monastic life, he never experienced illness of any kind — not a headache, not a cold, not a single day of physical discomfort. He ordained at eighty and attained arhatship in seven days.

    Vakkula’s legendary health is evident in his birth story. According to the traditional accounts, Vakkula’s stepmother, driven by jealousy, made five attempts on his life as an infant. He survived each one: thrown into boiling water, subjected to intense heat, cast into a river, swallowed by a great fish, and struck with a knife when the fish was later caught — the blade leaving him entirely unharmed.

    The teachings on cause and effect point to his past lives as the source of his remarkable longevity and health. In a previous life he had offered a haritaki fruit to a sick pratyekabuddha. During the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, he gave medicinal herbs to the monastic community to cure their illnesses. Those acts of offering bore fruit across lifetimes in extraordinary vitality and freedom from disease.

    The Venerable Vakkula led an incredibly disciplined life, wearing only tatters for robes, never dining in a house, and never allowing a sensual perception to arise in his mind. He taught no one and accepted no disciples. He spent his days in solitary meditation, entirely self-contained. The Buddha praised him as a model among the śrāvaka disciples for three qualities: his extremely long life, his freedom from illness, and his reticence. He passed away peacefully at one hundred and sixty, entering nirvāṇa as if entering meditative absorption.

    Two Expressions of the Same Liberation

    The Venerable Ānanda poured himself into the preservation of a teaching that would outlast him by millennia, which necessitated that he immerse himself among the people. The Venerable Vakkula turned entirely inward, leaving almost no trace except his realization and the extraordinary life that expressed it. Thus, we are reminded that in practicing the Dharma, there are as many ways to liberate oneself as there are sentient beings.

    The relics of both Venerable Ānanda and Venerable Vakkula will be present at the Buddha and Sacred Relics Veneration and Prayer Ceremony this July in Chicago’s Chinatown. Next week we turn to the lineage that connects these ancient figures to our temple today — the story of Master Taixu, Master Yinshun, and the journey from Shanghai to Penang to Chicago’s Chinatown.

    The ceremony takes place July 25–26, 2026. All are warmly welcome.

    For official event details, visit ibfachicagotemple.org. To receive updates as the ceremony approaches, sign up here.

  • The Two Wings of the Dharma: The Venerable Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana

    Among all the disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha, two names stand above the rest as the Buddha’s closest and most trusted: the Venerable Śāriputra and the Venerable Maudgalyāyana. The Buddha himself described them as his two wings — each indispensable to the other. Their relics are among the five traveling to Chicago this July.

    Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana were close friends from childhood, both born into wealthy Brahmin families near Rājagṛha. Attending a festival together, they were struck by a sudden, shared sense of life’s impermanence — the crowds, the celebration, all of it passing — and agreed then to renounce the world together in search of the deathless Dharma.

    The turning point came when Śāriputra encountered the Buddha’s disciple Venerable Aśvajit on the street. Struck by Aśvajit’s serene and dignified bearing, he approached and asked about his teacher’s path. What he heard in reply was the verse on dependent origination:

    “All phenomena arise from causes and conditions, and all phenomena cease by causes and conditions; the great sage, our Buddha, constantly teaches thus.”

    Śāriputra immediately attained stream-entry — the first stage of awakening marked by breaking through the belief in the self. He brought the verse to Maudgalyāyana, who upon hearing it realized the same attainment. Together, they led their respective two hundred and fifty disciples to take refuge under the Buddha, and were ordained.

    From there, their paths diverged in role even as they remained, as the Buddha said, two wings of a single bird.

    Venerable Śāriputra — Foremost in Wisdom

    Śāriputra’s name draws from śārī, the bird his mother resembled — a word that also echoes śarīra, the term for relics themselves, and carries within it the profound transcendent wisdom, prajñā, for which he was foremost among the Buddha’s disciples.

    From childhood, Śāriputra was exceptionally gifted — at eight he could expound teachings, and by sixteen his eloquence was unsurpassed. Within the sangha, he served as chief trainer, teaching disciples to deeply understand the Dharma and caring for the spiritual life of newcomers with the tenderness of a loving mother. Thus, he was honored as the General of the Dharma for his role in guiding the sangha’s training.

    When Śāriputra sensed his own death drawing near, a short time before the Buddha’s own final nirvāṇa, he asked for and received the Buddha’s permission to return to his homeland and teach the Dharma to his mother as one last act of filial piety. It was here that the Venerable Śāriputra attained final nirvāṇa.

    Venerable Maudgalyāyana — Foremost in Spiritual Powers

    Where Śāriputra guided the inner cultivation of disciples with maternal care, Maudgalyāyana served as great Dharma protector — using his exceptional spiritual powers to subdue those who opposed the Dharma and to aid beings in suffering, guiding the outward conduct of the sangha with the firmness of a stern father. Wisdom and power; mother and father; two wings of the same bird.

    The Buddha’s description of their complementarity is borne out in the sutras: whenever profound philosophical questions arose, Maudgalyāyana would quietly step back and allow Śāriputra to speak — a gesture of deep respect and clear understanding of each other’s gifts.

    The end of Maudgalyāyana’s life was both legendary and sobering. Due to karmic remnants from past lives, he was killed by non-Buddhist ascetics, crushed to death by rocks, not long after Śāriputra’s own passing. His death confirmed the teaching he had spent his life demonstrating: spiritual powers cannot overcome karma. Through the destruction of his physical body, Maudgalyāyana taught all future generations the true and unfailing nature of karmic cause and effect — that no power, however extraordinary, can circumvent what has been set in motion by past actions.

    Two Branches of a Great Tree

    Not long after both had attained final nibbāna, the Buddha sat in the open with the assembly of monks at Ukkacelā, on the bank of the Ganges. Surveying the silent gathering, he told them that this assembly seemed empty to him now that Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana had passed — though for himself, he said, there was no true emptiness, since he held no concern for any region where the two of them had dwelled. No future pair of chief disciples, he told the monks, would ever surpass what Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana had been to him.

    He likened their passing to a great, sound tree losing its two largest branches — the trunk still standing, but visibly changed by what had fallen away. All that is born, formed, and conditioned, he reminded the assembly, is subject to passing. Therefore: dwell as your own island, with the Dharma as your refuge, and no other.

    (SN 47.14, “At Ukkacelā,” translated by Bhikkhu Sujato)

    The relics of both Venerable Śāriputra and Venerable Maudgalyāyana will be present at the Buddha and Sacred Relics Veneration and Prayer Ceremony this July in Chicago’s Chinatown — together, as they always were. Next week we turn to the Venerable Ānanda and the Venerable Vakkula, the remaining two disciples whose relics are coming to Chicago.

    The ceremony takes place July 25–26, 2026. The sacred relics will be open for public veneration throughout both days. All are warmly welcome.

    For official event details, visit ibfachicagotemple.org. To receive updates as the ceremony approaches, sign up here.

    Part of our eight-week series leading up to the Buddha and Sacred Relics Veneration and Prayer Ceremony. Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

  • From A Life of Luxury to Fully Enlightened One

    Śākyamuni Buddha — known in the sutras as the World-Honored One — was born Siddhartha Gautama, crown prince of King Śuddhodana of Kapilavastu, into the Śākya clan of ancient northern India. His mother was Queen Maya, and his birthplace Lumbini Grove, in present-day Nepal.

    At the time of Prince Siddhartha’s birth, a fortune-teller predicted: “If he renounces the world to cultivate the Way, he will certainly become a Buddha; if he remains in the world, he will become a wheel-turning monarch.” During that period, religious thought in India had grown extreme, and kingdoms were constantly at war. People longed for benevolent governance and peace, while also seeking true liberation from the sufferings of existence. It was into this world that the World-Honored One was born.

    In his adult years, Siddhartha married Yaśodharā and had a son named Rāhula, living a life of luxury and splendor. While traveling outside the palace, he witnessed the suffering of farmers, creatures preying upon one another, and the sufferings of old age, sickness, and death. Deeply moved by the impermanence of the world, he resolved to seek the truth and find a way to liberate all beings from suffering.

    At the age of twenty-nine, Siddhartha resolutely renounced his royal life and left the palace to pursue the path of renunciation and cultivation. He first studied meditation, then underwent six years of ascetic practice — yet was unable to attain true liberation. He came to understand that neither sensual indulgence nor extreme asceticism was the correct path, and abandoned both extremes, turning instead to the Middle Way.

    Siddhartha then sat in meditation beneath the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, deeply contemplating the arising and ceasing of all phenomena in the universe. At last, he fully awakened to the principle of dependent origination and realized supreme, perfect enlightenment — becoming the Buddha. After his enlightenment, the World-Honored One spent forty-five years wandering and teaching throughout the Ganges River basin, sharing the Dharma of the Middle Way, compassion, and equality, guiding all beings toward liberation from suffering and the attainment of true happiness.

    The term “Buddha” means an awakened one who has perfected both enlightenment and conduct. The Buddha is neither a god nor a messenger of God, but a noble one who, through cultivation in the human realm, attained ultimate awakening. The Dharma he revealed continues to inspire countless people in their pursuit of wisdom, compassion, and inner liberation. In his later years, the World-Honored One entered parinirvāṇa at Kushinagar. His teachings continue to reach and transform hearts throughout the world to this day.

    In addition to the word “Buddha,” there are numerous epithets that we hold dear to our hearts. Each points toward a distinct facet of his complete awakening:

    Tathāgata (Thus Come One) — One who has come in accordance with the principle of ultimate reality and likewise departs in truth; one who fully understands the reality of the universe and human life.

    Arhat (Worthy of Offerings) — One who has eliminated all afflictions and is worthy of offerings from both humans and celestial beings.

    Samyak-saṃbuddha (Perfectly and Universally Enlightened One) — One who correctly and universally awakens to all phenomena.

    Vidyā-caraṇa-saṃpanna (Perfect in Wisdom and Conduct) — One whose wisdom and cultivation are complete and perfect.

    Sugata (Well-Gone) — One who has skillfully transcended the sea of suffering.

    Lokavid (Knower of the World) — One who thoroughly understands the truths of the world.

    Anuttarā (Unsurpassed One) — One whose virtue and wisdom are supreme, with no one above.

    Purusadamya-sāratha (Tamer of Beings) — One who skillfully guides sentient beings toward liberation.

    Śāstā devamanuṣyānām (Teacher of Gods and Humans) — The great teacher of both celestial beings and humankind.

    Buddho bhagavān (World-Honored One) — The most venerable and honored one in all the worlds.

    These ten epithets represent the Buddha’s perfect accomplishment in virtue and wisdom, and his complete benefit to both himself and all others. They describe the qualities of his enlightenment and serve as a foundation for practitioners to recollect and praise the Tathāgata.

    This July, relics of Śākyamuni Buddha travel from the Master Taixu Relic Stupa at Triple Wisdom Hall in Penang, Malaysia to Chicago’s Chinatown. Next week, we turn to the lives of two of his greatest disciples — the Venerable Śāriputra and the Venerable Maudgalyāyana — whose relics will also be present at the ceremony.

    The Buddha and Sacred Relics Veneration and Prayer Ceremony takes place July 25–26, 2026 in Chicago’s Chinatown. The sacred relics will be open for public veneration throughout both days. All are warmly welcome.

    For official event details, visit ibfachicagotemple.org. To receive updates as the ceremony approaches, sign up here.

  • What Are Buddhist Relics, And Why Do Sentient Beings Venerate Them?

    Throughout millennia of human culture and up to the present, people return again and again to the physical remains of those who embodied something greater than themselves. For Buddhists, venerating the relics of the Buddha and the Arahants is a reminder that all created things—even the bodies of those who achieved what so few can—are impermanent, subject to death and decay. And yet, the Buddhist community has preserved these fragments of form for thousands of years. Their preservation is a testament to the adamantine strength of the Sangha and the timelessness of the Dharma that invites you to come and see.

    What Are Buddhist Relics?

    Buddhist relics — known in Sanskrit as śarīra — are the physical remains of the Buddha or of highly realized practitioners, typically recovered after cremation. They most commonly appear as small crystalline or bone fragments, though larger relics such as teeth, finger bones, and skull fragments are among the most revered in the tradition.

    The Buddha’s relics are venerated as one of the most exalted and precious sacred objects in Buddhism, symbolizing the Buddha’s boundless compassion, wisdom, and pure virtues. Buddhist disciples regard the relics as the “Living Buddha Treasure” – not only as a tangible sign of the Buddha’s true presence in the world, but also as a profound inspiration for sentient beings to cultivate goodness, accumulate merit, and diligently practice the Dharma.

    Offering and paying homage to the Buddha’s relics is believed to bring about the elimination of calamities, the bestowal of blessings, and the increase of merit and wisdom. Furthermore, the fact that the relics remain indestructible for thousands of years is seen as a manifestation of the Buddha’s Dharma body being ever-present, uncreated and imperishable, inspiring people to purify their body and mind and to strengthen their faith. In brief, the Buddha’s relics carry the following significant meanings:

    Religious Faith and Auspicious Wonders – In the Buddhist tradition, the relics are often accompanied by various auspicious and wondrous phenomena, such as emitting light, displaying brilliant colors, and multiplying in number. These occurrences further enhance their sacred and sublime nature and deepen the reverence and faith of Buddhist disciples toward the Dharma.

    Symbol of the Eternal Dharma Body – The Buddha’s relics do not decay over time. The indestructible and sublime nature of relics such as the skull bone and finger bone is regarded as a symbol of the Buddha’s eternal Dharma body, demonstrating that although the Dharma passes through changing eras, it remains forever present in the world for the benefit of all beings.

    Symbol of Faith – Seeing the relics as seeing the Buddha; the relics are regarded as a symbol of the Tathāgata’s true body and a concrete embodiment of the Buddha’s compassion, wisdom, vows, and actions. By viewing and worshipping the relics, devotees can recollect the Buddha’s grace in teaching and transforming beings, strengthen their faith in the Triple Gem, and solidify their resolve to pursue awakening and liberation.

    Teaching and Inspiring Beings – The Buddha’s relics possess a profound and sublime spiritual power of inspiration. Throughout history, not only have Buddhists aroused reverence and diligence through venerating the relics, but many ordinary people have also engaged in self-reflection, repentance, the cessation of evil, and the cultivation of goodness, thereby promoting social harmony. Thus, the relics are often regarded as an important cultural symbol for uniting hearts and uplifting virtuous thoughts.

    Sublime Merit of Offering and Worship – According to Buddhist scriptures, offering and paying homage to the Buddha’s relics can generate vast merit and benefit, such as increasing blessings and wisdom, averting disasters and suffering, attaining physical and mental peace, and cultivating the wholesome causes and conditions for rebirth in the Pure Land and the attainment of enlightenment. For this reason, the relics have always been venerated and offered to with devotion by Buddhist disciples throughout history.

    A Brief History: The Ten Stupas

    After the Buddha’s passing, his cremation was conducted with the full honors of a wheel-turning monarch. His relics were then divided equally among eight kingdoms and clans of ancient India, each of which built a stupa to enshrine and honor them. The brahmin Droṇa, who presided over the division, built a ninth stupa to enshrine the relic container itself. A tenth stupa was built by the Moriya clan, who preserved the ashes from the cremation fire.

    In this way, ten stupas arose across northern India in the immediate aftermath of the Buddha’s passing, initiating the tradition of relic veneration that would spread, along with the Dharma itself, across the entire world.

    The Relics Coming to Chicago

    This July, five sacred relics will travel from the Master Taixu Relic Stupa at Triple Wisdom Hall in Penang, Malaysia to Chicago’s Chinatown — relics of Śākyamuni Buddha himself, and of four of his greatest disciples: the Venerable Śāriputra, the Venerable Maudgalyāyana, the Venerable Ānanda, and the Venerable Vakkula.

    Over the coming weeks, we will share the remarkable lives of each of these figures — beginning next week with the life of Śākyamuni Buddha himself, from his birth as a prince in ancient India to his enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree.

    The Buddha and Sacred Relics Veneration and Prayer Ceremony takes place July 25–26, 2026 in Chicago’s Chinatown. The sacred relics will be open for public veneration throughout both days. All are warmly welcome.

    For official event details, visit ibfachicagotemple.org. To receive updates as the ceremony approaches, sign up here.

    This is the second post in our eight-week series leading up to the Buddha and Sacred Relics Veneration and Prayer Ceremony. Read the first post here.

  • This Summer, Sacred Relics Come to Chicago’s Chinatown — And Everyone Is Welcome

    This July, something rare is coming to Chicago.

    The International Buddhism Friendship Association (IBFA), in partnership with the Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, will host the Buddha and Sacred Relics Veneration and Prayer Ceremony — a two-day public event bringing ancient Buddhist sacred relics to the heart of Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood.

    The relics, traveling from the Master Taixu Relic Stupa at Triple Wisdom Hall in Penang, Malaysia, include relics of Śākyamuni Buddha himself and four of his greatest disciples. They will be open for public veneration throughout both days of the ceremony — a rare opportunity that draws Buddhists and curious visitors alike from across the world wherever it occurs.

    The event is free and open to everyone — no experience with Buddhism required.

    Event Details

    Saturday, July 25th, 2026 In front of the Chicago Chinatown Visitor Center 2189 S Wentworth Ave, Chicago IL 60616

    9:30 AM – 2:00 PM: Opening Ceremony

    • Blessing chanting from multiple Buddhist traditions
    • Blessing walk circling Chinatown

    Sunday, July 26th, 2026 2189 S Wentworth Ave, Chicago IL 60616 (In front of the Chicago Chinatown Visitor Center, intersection of Wentworth Ave & Cermak Rd)

    10:30 AM: Blessing Chanting

    1:00 – 3:00 PM: Dharma Sharing & Exchange Assembly (Moving to: Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, 250 W 22nd Pl, Chicago IL 60616)

    Distinguished Guest: Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi

    We are deeply honored to welcome Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi as our distinguished guest and keynote speaker. An American-born Theravāda monk, scholar, and translator, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is one of the most respected Buddhist voices in the Western world, known for his landmark translations of the Pāli Canon and his decades of teaching. His presence at this ceremony reflects the spirit of the event itself — Buddhism as a living, breathing tradition that crosses boundaries of culture, language, and background.

    What Are Buddhist Relics?

    If you’re new to Buddhism, you may be wondering — what exactly are relics, and why do they matter?

    In Buddhism, relics are the physical remains of the Buddha or highly realized practitioners, preserved after cremation. They are regarded not as mere historical artifacts but as living symbols of the Buddha’s wisdom, compassion, and presence in the world. For practitioners, venerating relics is an opportunity to connect directly with that lineage — to be, in some sense, in the presence of the teachings themselves.

    Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing a series of posts exploring the relics featured in this ceremony, the remarkable lives of the disciples whose relics will be present, and the ancient tradition of relic veneration. Whether you’re a longtime practitioner or simply curious, we hope these posts offer something meaningful.

    Join Us — All Are Warmly Welcome

    This is a public event, free of charge, held in the heart of one of Chicago’s most vibrant neighborhoods. Come to chant, to walk, to listen, to learn, or simply to be present. No prior experience with Buddhism is needed — only an open heart.

    For official event details, visit ibfachicagotemple.org.

    To receive updates as the ceremony approaches, sign up here.

    The Buddha and Sacred Relics Veneration and Prayer Ceremony is jointly organized by the Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and the International Buddhism Friendship Association (IBFA).

    A Note on Respectful Participation

    As this is a sacred religious ceremony, we ask all attendees to come prepared to participate with reverence and respect. Please dress modestly — avoid tight or revealing clothing. Hats and sunglasses should be removed during the ceremony. We also ask that attendees refrain from loud conversation and excessive cellphone use, so that everyone may be fully present to the experience. Photographs are welcome.

    If you are new to Buddhist ceremonies, simply follow the lead of those around you and approach the experience with an open, humble heart and a compassionate, respectful mind. You are warmly welcome here.

  • Our beloved Sangha bathing the Buddha on Vesak Day

    Always with metta

  • Happy Vesak Day from IBFA!

    On Vesak Day of 2026, IBFA practitioners gathered to honor the birth of the Buddha with the traditional Bathing Buddha ceremony. We hope that the timeless Dharma permeates our entire world. Today, let us reflect on the profound verse from Venerable Hui-Neng:


    Bodhi originally has no tree,
    The mirror-like mind has no stand.
    Buddha-nature is always clean and pure;
    Where is there room for dust to alight?

    This concise verse exemplifies the Madhyamaka philosphy of Nagarjuna: when one truly comprehends the emptiness of self and things, then there is no way to act other than with compassion towards all. May your life be full of metta.

  • Dharma Discussion, May 17th, 2026

    This past Sunday, Ayler led our Dharma study group in a discussion of Chapter 3, Section 2 of Master Yin Shun’s “Introduction to Buddhism.” We discussed how Buddhist cosmology can be used to understand one’s own continuously changing state of being and becoming, to understand the dynamics of power in the world, and to understand rebirth. We also discussed the importance of having no expectations when it comes to meditation and approaching our mindfulness practice with the sole intention of observing the state of the mind and body without judgment or labeling.