A 1,500 year old Buddha head will soon be returned to the place of its origin.
The relic is believed to be the head of a Buddha sculpture in a temple in Hebei province. It had been listed as stolen, until Master Xingyun of Taiwan acknowledged its presence and announced the donation.
The Buddha head was donated to Master Xingyun by believers in 2014. On asking the chief of China’s National Administration of Cultural Relics, where the Buddha head came from, he was told that it was the head of a Buddhist sculpture in Youju Temple of Lingshou County, Hebei province.
The master immediately said he wanted to return the Buddha head to the place of its origin.
As a result, a ceremony will be held in Taiwan later this month, to reunite the Buddha head with its body.
Along with some fifty other Buddhist relics, the body will be taken to Taiwan, so it can reunite with its head. The head itself has temporarily been placed in Foguang mountain in Taiwan.
Northern Qi Dynasty (AD 550-577) lasted only twenty-eight years. So there are very few relics left from that period.
So this Buddhist sculpture is a rare treasure. After so many years of not knowing where the head was, the head and the body will finally be reunited. The event is of great significance.