The 7 treasures of the Buddhism

flicker user dknisely

Although Buddhism is a religion of renunciation, the temples are very rich, holding precious items like gold-plated statues decorated with pieces of jewelry. The rich Buddhist worshippers and the merchants travelling along the Silk Road have been encouraged to make gifts to the temples they visited on their ways, thus leaving there pieces of silk, gems and other materials, and in particular the Sapta Ratna, the “Seven Treasures”.

At first conceived as symbols of the authority and sovereignty, like a wheel for the law, an elephant for the king and so on, they slowly changed to more mundane goods like gems and jewels. As a real sign of respect for the Buddha, the caravans transported these treasures to the numerous temples spread all other the Silk Road… and at range of marauding Nomads. The Sapta Ratna can inspire a GM wanting to offer good reward to plundering Nomads PCs, or as precious goods to be protected by courageous caravan guards or pious monks.

The Seven Treasures of the Buddhism were: Gold, silver, pearls, lapis-lazuli, rock crystal and most probably coral from the Mediterranean. The seventh could have been amber, diamond, agate, cornelian or ammonite.

These treasures would be found in Buddhist temples, should anyone want to plunder them. Caravans transported of course much more other precious goods like musk, glass, furs, gems, art work and so on.

[note: despite the temporary unavailibilty of Wind on the Steppes, I'll continue to feed this blog, although at a slower pace.]