5,000 gather to make last offerings to Buddha relic

About 5,000 worshippers gathered to pay their respects to the Buddha Finger relic on the last day of the exhibition yesterday.

More than 120 baskets of offerings - including flowers, fruits and dried food - were passed through the crowd and onto the stage where the relic and other national Buddhist treasures were on display.

Senior monks including Master Yicheng, chairman of the Buddhist Association of China, and Sik Kok Kwong, leader of the Hong Kong Buddhist Association, offered blessings to the worshippers.

After the two-hour ceremony, guests were invited to lunch, filling the dinner hall of 50 tables.

A brief ceremony will be held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai today before senior monks escort the relic to the airport, where it will be flown back to the mainland. The treasures, from the Tang dynasty, arrived in Hong Kong last month and have been on display for 10 days.

The Buddha's Finger is part of the remains of Sakyamuni cremated 2,489 years ago. It was found at the Famen Temple, near Xian.