In Liao dynasty, the kingdom of Khitan tribe, many Buddhist temples and pagodas were built, since Buddhism was protected as the national religion with the support of the royal family. In this paper, I examined the Buddhist relic cult of Liao dynasty focusing on the excavated artifacts from the pagodas which were located in Liaoning Chaoyang province.
Chaoyang area was the nexus of transportation located in west Liaoning and due to this geographical characteristics, this area accommodated a new style of relic cult and represented it in a figurative form. Therefore, many Buddhist pagodas were built in this area, and especially, three pagodas located in the center of Chaoyang city are significant.
The north pagoda of Chaoyang which had existed since the sixth century is most important in understanding the relic cult of this province. Various Buddhist figures represented on the surface of the pagoda such as four buddhas, eight bodhisattvas and eight spiritual stupas show the influences of the esoteric Buddhism of the late Tang dynasty, which seems to have provided the ideological background for the reconstruction of this pagoda. Moreover, in the north pagoda and east pagoda of Chaoyang, a unique way of dharma sarira enshrining Dharani pillar was developed. This was the result of the fusion of the Buddhist characteristics of Korean peninsula, Mt. Wutai area of North China in Chaoyang area. In the 10th century, the faith of pre-historic buddha's relic was transferred to Liaoning area by the ruling class who migrated from the Southern China and this faith made great influences in building of the South pagoda of Chaoyang.
In Chaoyang area, the Buddhist culture of Korean peninsula and that of the southern China, and that of the Mountain Wutai were encountered. Also the plentiful material resources donated by the nobles from the capital of Liao dynasty were enable to develope a unique Buddhist culture here. Therefore, this area became the flourishing center of Buddhist culture in northeast China. Chaoyang area became one of the important main center in the buddhism and the relic cult of Liao dynasty.