Hi,
Bone fragments, teeth, various calcified stones remaining after cremation (
called 'Sariras', now thought to be perhaps actually the remains of kidney stones and gallstones!) and other claimed vestiges of the Buddha are found enshrined all over Asia, now other places too. So much so, that I have sometimes joked that the man must have had a few thousand teeth (
well, he is the Buddha after all!). It is not different at all from how various body parts of Catholic Saints and pieces of the Cross can be found enshrined around Europe ... a way to make tangible contact, "evidence" of their spiritual power in being beyond decay and such.
Were they actually part of the person? Are they the person? ... Well, they are what they are, and each is "Buddha" in its way.
One tooth of Buddha is found a short drive from here in Tsukuba, at the giant statue of Amida Buddha located in the next town (sometimes seen on the "sit-a-longs" here). It was a gift from the government of Burma (maybe Thailand). It is, though, rather stuck away in a corner there of their little museum, without much particular comment ... because I think the Amida people did not really know what to make of it (I do not think that such things are central to their beliefs either). But, there it is ... the "Tooth of Gautama Buddha" in a nice gold display case in Ushiku near Tsukuba!
Gassho, J
PS - For more information on Sariras, with a bit of a medical bent, this link.
NOTE: CONTAINS PHOTOS OF MUMMIES AND KIDNEY STONES, MAYBE A BIT GRAPHIC TO SOME:
https://sites.google.com/site/philosoph ... riras.html