Cetiya

The sārīraka (Sanskrit śarīra) or dhātu cetiya, the remains of Gautama Buddha's body, are the category commonly considered "relics" today by Western observers, and were responsible for major forms of Buddhist art and symbolism, although they only constitute one of the three categories of reminders. Beyond the stupa itself, sārīraka are used across the Buddhist world, in such quantity that not all could be legitimate; in this sense the sārīraka functions mainly as a symbol, with the importance of authenticity varying between cultures. The body parts of especially powerful monks are also called sārīraka, but these usually take on the form of bright jewels formed during the cremation of the body. ==Paribhogaka==

The paribhoga cetiya, things used by the Buddha, would seem at first to be a nonexistent category today. However, temples such as Tongdosa in South Korea claim to keep his robe and begging bowl. The category also includes all places the Buddha visited, so Bodh Gaya itself functions as a paribhogaka. The most common paribhogaka is the Bodhi Tree, which was transplanted across Southeast Asia; cuttings of the original bodhi tree still survive today in Sri Lanka. , showing the Buddhist wheel and a larger-than-life foot Another extremely common paribhoga cetiya is the Buddha footprint, which are found across the Buddhist world symbolizing the ground that Buddha walked on and the powerful size of his dhammakāya. Sometimes these footprints are also classed as udesaka, a representation of the Buddha's foot, or sārīraka, implying that the footprint was the foot itself. ==Udesaka==

in the early second century CE The final category, udesaka or uddesika cetiya, literally translates as "indicative reminders" or "votive objects", for example images of the Buddha. Whether these scenes contained substitutes for the image of Buddha himself is currently under debate. ==See also==