The "whole-body sari" is commonly known as "the mortal body of the bodhisattva," an expression stemming from the Buddhist belief that after a Buddhist prelate of superior virtue attains to the "perfect rest" of parinirvana (or, in secular terms, he dies), his physical body does not decay.
碎身舍利，則是修學佛法者的遺體火化後得到的珠狀物。傳到中國後，因為它的形狀，故通稱為舍利「子」。在佛教發源地的印度盛行火葬，認為是潔淨無塵的象徵。