Fourth Storey

The 4th floor Inner Chamber is the repository of the Sacred Buddha Tooth. The gold Sacred Buddha's Tooth Relic Stupa is the center of focus in this magnificent and elegant room. There is a painting of the Vairocana Mandala above this Stupa, with carvings of 36 dragons below it. Gilt flower garland offering lamps and a jewel netting cordons the ceiling. There are paintings of 20 Heavenly Devas keeping watch and the floor is lined with gold tiles.

Beginning from the top, there is a large crystal above 7 parasols. There are jewelled bangles from Myanmar around the last parasol. The main dome of the stupa has a reverse lotus at the top. Below this are 189 sets of Stupa gems collection of emeralds and rubies. Below this are the 35 Confession Buddhas. The dome ends on a circular base with engraved floral motifs and sits on a square platform featuring scenes from the life of the Buddha.

The Sacred Buddha’s Tooth Relic Stupa statue is modeled after two similar Gandharan period stone stupas at the museums of New Delhi and Kolkata. The dome is crowned by the 7-tiered parasol depicting royalty and the cosmic connection between heaven and earth.

On the first tier of the Stupa from the base, lie the bas reliefs of the intricately carved Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas in pure gold. These Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas are Buddhas that had gained enlightenment before Buddha Sakyamuni.

This grouping of the 35 Buddhas is recorded in the Definite Vinaya Sutra. The sutra was translated by Dharmaraksa竺法护, a renowned Indian scholar monk and actually derived from the Upali Section of the Collection of Precious Jewels Sutra (Sanskrit: Maharatnakuta Sutra, Tibetan: könchog tsegpa). Amoghavajra retranslated the pertinent portion of the text and called it the 'Worship and Penitential Text of the 35 Buddhas' Names'. This text became widely known as the Mahayana Sutra of the Three Superior Heaps (Sanskrit: Triskandhadharmasutra). The Three Heaps refer to the 'heaps' or collections of confession, dedication and rejoicing.

Atisha (980-1054 CE) explained that although all Buddhas have the power to protect living beings from suffering, due to the special prayers made by these 35 Buddhas when they were Bodhisattvas, they have uncommon abilities and strong karmic links to assist beings of this world.

In his Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life (Sanskrit: Bodhisattvacaryavatara), Shantideva, the 8th century Buddhist master, advises that:

Due to the importance and significance given to Bodhisattvacaryavatara by past and present Tibetan masters, the practice of the 35 Buddhas has remained to this day almost exclusively among Himalayan Buddhists. For example, Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419 CE) purportedly performed 100,000 prostrations in front of each of the 35 Buddhas, making a total of 3.5 million prostrations. The stone where he performed his prostrations in Wölka still bears the imprint of his body. As a result of his sincere and diligent practice, he received a pure vision of them and his vision, written down in his Practice of the Thirty-five Buddhas and a Description of the Deities' Bodies, consititute one of three major systems of representations of the 35 Buddhas. The other two are: (1) without hand attributes (which may have originated from the Nyingma tradition) and (2) a so-called 'Nagarjuna' system [not necessarily the more well-known Nagarjuna]).

It is said that Mahayana practitioners who frequently perform the worship and penitence during the six times of the day (i.e. dawn, noontime, dusk, early night, midnight and late night) will achieve great merits. They will be cleansed of karmic obstructions and serious guilt, and will attain whatever samadhi, deliverance and spiritual level they seek in this life.

Together with the practice of Vajrasattva, the 35 Confession Buddhas practice is one of the most important purification practice of Tibetan Buddhists which consists of generating the four opponent powers essential for successful purification of regret, reliance, opponent force and promise. The power of the opponent force here entails performing full-length prostrations to each of the Buddhas.

Attributes of the 35 Confession Buddhas are as follows:

It appears that some listings in the Chinese canon differs in adding a 'Buddha Sariputra' (离垢佛) as the 12th Buddha and omits 'Buddha Clearly Knowing through Enjoying Pure Radiance' (Sanskrit: Brahma-jyotir-vikrīḍitābhijña, Chinese: 清净光游戏神通智佛), the 24th Buddha.

The Sponsorship of each Confession Buddha is 2 kgs of gold, fully adopted.

At the sides of the Stupa's square platform are 8 gold panels with engravings depicting various scenes of Buddha Shakyamuni's life, starting with the Dream of Queen Maya and ending with the Great Parinirvana. These panels are executed in the traditional style of the Gandharan period.

The scenes of the Buddha's life from beginning to end, revolving around His Enlightenment are known as the Eight Aspects of the Enlightenment Story (or the "Eight Aspects of Manifestation") Sutra, with His Enlightenment being the most important.

Having made His abode in the Tusita Heaven for 4,000 years, the Bodhisattva Prabhapala (i.e. the Buddha prior to Enlightenment) rode upon a white six-tusked elephant and incarnated in our world. He entered the womb of Queen Maya at the residence of King Suddhodana of the Shakya kingdom in Kapilavatthu.

As Queen Maya's delivery date drew near, she had to return to her maternal home to give birth in accordance with the customs of the time. While passing by the Lumbini garden on her way, she gave birth to Prince Siddhartha Gautama (this being the secular name of the Buddha Shakyumuni) under an asoka tree. Nine nagas spewed water to bathe the newborn Prince, who immediately walked 7 steps, pointed at the heaven with one finger, and at the earth with another, saying, "I alone am Supreme, above and below heaven."

The Prince studied various arts and sciences when he was young. Although he lived in prosperity and nobility, his mind was constantly serene. Once, after wandering through the four gates and seeing the sick, the old, the dead, and some spiritual practitioners, he began to have the desire to leave the secular world behind and pursue spiritual truth.

The Prince's desire to renounce the secular life was so strong that King Suddhodana could not persuade him otherwise or stop him. Accompanied by his attendant Chandaka, he eventually rode a horse out of the city. He shaved off the hair on his head and face, put on a sramana's robe, sent Chandaka back to the palace, and subsequently went to the snowy mountains to practise austerities.

After 6 years of austerities, the Prince emerged from the snowy mountains. He took a bath in the Nairanjana river, ate some milk rice offered by a herdswoman, and sat down cross-legged with upturned soles under a bodhi tree, vowing never to get up again until he has attained perfect wisdom. Even though Mara sent his daughters to undermine the Prince's spiritual aspiration, they were subdued by him.

The Prince went into a deep meditative state under the Bodhi tree, exploring the Truth concerning the Universe and life. Finally, on the night of the 8th day of the 12th month, he removed all his mental defilements and their imprints, looked upon a bright star and attained Enlightenment. Having acquired unsurpassable Perfect and Universal Wisdom, he attained full enlightenment and became Buddha Shakyamuni.

After His Enlightenment, Buddha Shakyamuni gave sermons for 45 years including 3 Turns of the Dharma Wheel, the 4 Noble Truths, 12 Nidanas, 37 Bohhyangas, 3 Dharma Signs, Eightfold Noble Path, 6 Perfections etc. to release all the sentient beings from samsara. As His followers grew, He set up the Buddhist organization, namely the Sangha―the Bhiksus, the Bhiksunis; and at the same time gave the lay devotees (Kulapati) equivalent status. With the increasing numbers of lay devotees, they became the main donors and patrons in society supporting Buddhism.

When Buddha Shakyamuni turned 80 years old, He passed into Nirvana between two trees in a sala grove in the rural area of Kusinara city. After Nirvana, His Teachings, called Sutras, Pitakas and Sastras, were memorised, recorded and published by his disciples and passed from one generation to the next. There were a total of 12 collections, and they became the most important records of civilization for mankind, like the torch of the wisdom, brightening up the lives of generations after generations and guiding countless lives towards deliverance.

A stupa (Sanskrit: स्तूप, stūpa; Sinhalese: ස්ථූපය; Pāli: थुप "thūpa", literally meaning "heap") is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship. Stupas are an ancient form of mandala.

The Sacred Buddha's Tooth Relic Stupa represents the constant abiding of the inconceivable Dhammakaya, the Buddha's Holy Mind. To offer precious gold to the Buddha's sacred tooth relic is to accord Him the highest respect and devotion. Every kind thought and act of giving brings incredible positive karmic results especially making offerings to the Buddha. As stated in 'Eight Aspects of Manifestation' sutra, "whosoever makes offerings to the sacred relics will be born in the heavenly realms and be liberated from all suffering".

Every year, for 3 days, during the Chinese New Year and Vesak Day celebrations, the Sacred Buddha Tooth is received by President and Abbot, Venerable Shi Fa Zhao from the Sacred Stupa and placed on a special platform close to the viewing glass, for the public to have a special opportunity for veneration.