An exhibit of ancient relics will stop in Bend on Friday as part of a world tour.

The Maitreya Project Relic Tour exhibit will open Friday evening at the Old Stone Church.

It consists of small, pearl-like objects found among the cremation ashes of Buddhist masters, including, among others, Buddha Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha, born circa 563 B.C.

To adherents of Buddhism, they are sacred.

The tour provides a rare opportunity to view the relics before they are enshrined in a 500-foot bonze statue of Maitreya Buddha to be built in Kushinagar, northern India.

Buddhist scripture prophesizes that the Maitreya will be the next Buddha to bring teachings of loving-kindness to the world, according to the Maitreya Project Relic Tour.

According to Carol Delmonico of the Peace Center of Central Oregon, which is bringing the tour to town, the relics are created when Buddhist masters “are cremated, they do leave these different pearl-like substances.”

Her guess is the objects are part of their spirits that are left behind.

According to www.cremation info.com, a Web site devoted to cremation, “Cremated remains bear a resemblance to coarse sand and are pasty white in color. The remains of a normal size adult usually weigh between four to six pounds.”

But these relics are not your standard cremains, says Elizabeth Straight, a representative of the Maitreya Project Relic Tour.

“The objects found in the cremation ashes are the enlightenment, the realization, their good quality transformed into something that we can see,” says Straight.

Straight herself has done some research on cremation and visited a crematorium. When she showed photos of the relics to the director of the crematorium, she recalls, “He said he’d never ever found anything like that in anybody’s ashes, and he couldn’t count how many ashes he’s processed and cremated.”

According to Straight, Buddha Sakyamuni left behind eight baskets of relics.

“The disciples gathered all the relics up, and it was found there were eight baskets of relics. Even at this day, with the fact that relics multiply, there could be quite a lot more around in the world right now,” she says.

“They have the potential to multiply as the result of faith and devotion from visitors,” Straight says. “Since the tour started in 2001, there have been several noted changes, multiplications.”

In Korea, she witnessed the illumination of relics.

“The light over that particular relic had been out for three days. It was almost like, on the third day, it was going, ‘OK, if you’re not going to put the light over me, I’m going to make my own light,’” she says with a chuckle.

Visitors who have been in the presence of relics have reported feelings of inspiration, well-being and healing. According to Maitreya Project literature, some are overcome by emotion while others are inspired to pray for world peace.

“Generally speaking, people have a sense of peace when they come in the presence of these holy relics,” Straight adds.

A Tibetan Buddhist nun will join the tour in Bend, says Straight, who stresses that the tour provides a very rare glimpse at these sacred objects.

Previously, you would have had to be “in the right place at the right time in Asia when relics would be brought out on a special occasion,” Straight says. “There would be hundreds of thousands of people thronging to be near the relic to receive the blessings. Even if you were close, you wouldn’t be able to see it with the naked eye.”

If you go

What: Maitreya Project Relic Tour

When: 7 p.m. Friday, opening ceremony; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (closed from 11 a.m. to noon Sunday)

Where: Old Stone Church, 157 N.W. Franklin Ave., Bend

Cost: Free; donations accepted

Contact: 541-322-7273