Buddha finger leaves China for month of display in South Korea

BEIJING (AFP) - A relic believed to be the sacred finger of the Buddha left China for
South Korea, where it will be on public display for just over one month, state media said.

The bone, said to be 2,500 years old and normally kept at the Famen Temple in the northwest Chinese city of Xi'an, will stay in South Korea until December 20, the Xinhua news agency reported. [...]

The bone had been lying in obscurity in a secret underground chamber of the Famen Temple for more than 1,000 years until it was rediscovered in 1987, Xinhua said.

The bone was found when a pagoda at the temple collapsed, revealing a previously unknown basement. [...]