Why the Buddha's relics are dangerous

Because of my obligation as voluntary Sunday school teacher, I recently re-studied Maha Parinibbana Sutta (D16). The more I studied Maha Parinibbana Sutta and history of Buddhism after the Buddha's passing away, the more I felt that there are something wrong with relics.

Firstly, what are relics anyway? Relics are basically remains from a person. In the case of the Buddha, it is mentioned that after the Buddha passed away and being cremated, the remaining of the Buddha, called relics are then being venerated by some people.

So far so good right? What is wrong with relics then?
Firstly, let us see what happened after the Buddha passed away and cremated as recorded by Maha Parinibbana Sutta. It is mentioned that the Mallas of Kusinaras (basically the tribes in Kusinaras, where the Buddha passed away), more or less in charge of cremation of the Buddha's body, decided to install the Buddha's relics in an enclosure (cage) of spears, surrounding it with wall of bows in their assembly hall. And of course they also honoured, served, respected, esteemed and venerated them with dancing, music, singing, garlands and fragrances.
Why do you think they do that then? Why do they treat their teacher's remain who they have respected so much and who have well known for its renunciation to violence, surrounding it with weapons (spears, bows?).
I guess, probably, it is because they foresaw what might happen next in the near future.

True enough, not long after that, after the news of the Buddha has passed away spread, many kings, republic leaders and brahmins namely King Ajatasattu Vedehiputta of Magadha, Licchavis of Vesalis, Sakyas of Kapilavatthu, Bulis of Allakappa, Koliyas of Ramagama, brahmin Vethadipaka, Mallas of Pava, all sent their messengers to Mallas of Kusinaras, asking for the relics using various reasons justifying why they should be the one who have the rights to keep the Buddha's relics.
Obviously, the Mallas of Kusinaras rejected by saying that since the Buddha passed away in their place, the relics belong to them and they will not give away any portions of the relics!!!

Luckily, there is one brahmin with the name of Dona proposed to divide the Buddha's relics equally into 8 portions and distributed to all of these people and they somehow agreed with the proposal.

What do you think might happen if Mallas of Kusinaras insist to keep the relics by themselves? Noone knows for sure, but I guess that the possibilities that war will erupt just to fight over the relics are very possible. This is the worst case scenario right? Having war just because of the teacher's remains, while the teacher's instruction is loud and clear, renounce violence!

The next question that we should ask ourselves are why all these politicians want the Buddha's relic so much?
If we study carefully about power, one will know the answer straight away. The physical remains of the Buddha in the form of relics offer its owners power and authority. (eg. since I have the Buddha's relics, the Buddha is WITH ME, and therefore it is better for all of you to be with me also. My words are representing the Buddha...). In other words, relics promise power to its owner, and with power, the person can do a lot of things such as to build kingdom, to build country, to govern people, to accumulate wealth, etc.

Let me give further two examples of how relics can be very useful to its owners:
1. Sri Lanka. It is well known since old times that whoever possesses the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha possess the divine right to rule over the land. And because of these, of course many people would start wars in order to possess the relic so that they can become the kings of Sri Lanka.
2. In the modern days, big temples that possess or claim to possess many of the Buddha's relics are generally very successful in accumulating money.

After describing how relics are being used, let me come back to Maha Parinibbana Sutta. The main themes of the Sutta is basically on the Buddha's advice and instruction to the future Buddhists.
One thing that is very relevant here is of supreme worship. The Buddha mentioned that there are many ways to worship him. One can do all kinds of rituals, all kinds of methods to pay respect, venerate him, but those all are of little meaning, as the supreme worship is done and completed simply by practicing his teaching. (eg. realizing for himself the truth that the Buddha's proclaim that life is full of impermanence, suffering, and non self, and if one were to practice diligently based on the method that he taught, one will be able to reach his state, the state of Enlightenment (Nirvana/'Nibbana). When one became enlightened, one has in fact done a supreme worship to him, there is no need to do all sorts of useless things anymore!
In short, if you practice the Buddha's teaching diligently, there is no need to even pay respect to the Buddha's remain! Be it physical remains (relics), a tree (Bodhi tree), wheel (the symbol of Dhamma), the Buddha's statue or anything at all! Simply because when you are practicing his teaching, you have worship him much more, in comparison to the people who worship just his physical presence.

The problem with relics is the problem of externalization of Buddhism. To the pious (well, I should say fool) Buddhists, the relics represent the Buddha himself, and they are willing to do everything unconsciously when requested by the owners of the relics especially when he/she claims authority based on the relics.
To me, the story of relics much of it, is a story of human greed and human delusion. Politicians, or anyone who have desire for power/ money/ authority, will desire relics especially when he/she is being surrounded by fool people. Fool people who have much ignorance thought that those who possess relics are always right, will do everything as wanted by the relic's owner.
This is the reason why I thought the Buddha's relics are dangerous. The Buddha's teachings are clear. One should abandon greed, hatred and delusion, uprooting latent tendency of lust, aversion, and ignorance. But, somehow ironically, the Buddha's remains, the relics have proven to me in the past 2600 years, have done the reverse, increasing greed and delusion of many!

Closing note: From other perspective, we can also see that relics are just earth element, and it does not have any problem on its own. It is human beings' greed and ignorance that purposely misuse relics for their selfish gain. When one sees from this perspective, it is not relic's fault, since it is just a stone. How can we blame a stone (right?) =P