How Custodians Protect Buddhist Faith and Culture Relics and Peace

This research looks at Buddha’s sacred relics and the people who care for them from a peace studies perspective. The main question is: How do the custodians of Buddha’s relics act as agents of peace, cultural heritage protection, and social harmony? The study uses only internal Buddhist sources: Pāli suttas and Vinaya in translation, The Questions of King Milinda, and modern handbooks connected with a Buddha tooth relic preservation museum. These texts are read through ideas from peace studies, such as negative peace (absence of violence) and positive peace (presence of justice, safety, and good relationships). First, the thesis shows that early Buddhism is deeply concerned with peace. The Buddha often thinks of the “security of beings”, gives methods to settle disputes in the Saṅgha, and lays down rules “for the welfare and happiness of many.” Nibbāna is presented as the highest peace, but social harmony is also clearly valued. Second, the study explains how Buddha’s relics are understood in the texts. They are not only physical remains but supports for faith, memory, and practice. Relic shrines are described as places where humans and devas perform meritorious actions that lead towards liberation. Third, the thesis argues that custodians of relics—monastics, lay committees, and modern museum staff—are also guardians of the sāsana. They protect both material and intangible heritage, manage access and rituals, and shape the ethical atmosphere around relic sites. Finally, the research explores both positive roles and risks. Relic shrines can be moral classrooms, safe spaces, and centres of peace education. But they can also become points of conflict, superstition, commercialisation, or political misuse if guided by greed, hatred, and ignorance. The conclusion proposes a model of peace-oriented relic custodianship that links Buddhist faith, cultural heritage work, and peacebuilding, and suggests that wise custodians can help turn sacred relics into strong supports for social harmony.