They were two giant (174 ft. & 125 ft.) statues of The Buddha, chiseled into the mountainside more than 1,500 years ago in the Bamiyan Valley on the ancient Silk Route linking Europe and Central Asia. Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban rulers considered them "idolatrous" and against the tenets of Islam, and destroyed them in March 2001. They would soon move on to bigger game.
Now some engineers are using the most advanced software tools to build 3-dimensional models of the Buddhas from old records, photographs, etc. They think they've succeeded with one of the statues, and are working on the second. The Buddhas can probably be restored exactly, they say, for about $30 million each.
This would be a great project for the art and archaeology communities to underwrite. It would also send a message to both the Afghani peoples and to those Taliban remnants who are regrouping.
I am torn between restoring these monuments to a semblance of their original state, to a state prior to their recent ruin by the Taliban, or leaving them as is.
A total restoration back to their original condition would not represent a passage of time and the accurate recording of history; nor would restoring them to their state just prior to the Taliban's destructive acts.
Leaving them in their present condition does represent the historical record of these monuments. Generations from now we would look upon the ruins and remember the events behind their damage as indicative of 21st century man's still evolving humanity. Fifteen hundred years after the monuments were built in tribute to Buddha and the tenants of peaceful living, man has not made great progress toward sharing the earth in peace.
Perhaps a greater lesson would come from their damaged state as a reminder of how far we still have to go. A coverup restoration would be a denial of a painful part of our true history.
Hi.
I don't think it would be a good idea to rebuild the Buddhas, as this would give the Islamists a chance for a cheap victory by blowing them up again. Guarding them would be provocative, as would building them in the first place, since that would be a use of money better spent on Islam and Muslims.
Also, the Buddhas in their current condition are perfect monuments to the militant xenophobia that also destroyed the twin towers.
I can think of many things Afghanistan needs more than Buddhist statues. The Taliban pretty much followed a scorched earth policy as they retreated through Bamiyan and other areas. Waltzing into a disaster zone like that, ignoring the people and rebuilding statues is the epitome of western insensitivity, in my view.
Actually, Kevin, if the money is raised from Buddhist communities worldwide (the most likely option), a lot of it will be from places like India and Hong Kong, and SE Asia. And it will come, in all likelihood, from people whose priority list with respect to Afghanistan is likely to be very different from yours.
The world doesn't revolve around the West, you know - there are other folks out there with different agendas and concerns, and it might be worthwhile to see where they're coming from before condemning. In the process of flailing at Western insensitivity, you may have inadvertently demonstrated it instead.
On the subject of ironies... Buddhism is supposed to be all about shedding attachments, so paying money to restore a lost statue in the name of Buddhism does have its inherently comic/ironic element.
I give the statues even odds of not being rebuilt for that reason alone. But if they are rebuilt, what a great humourous Buddhist teaching story they'll be!
On the subject of ironies... Buddhism is supposed to be all about shedding attachments, so paying money to restore a lost statue in the name of Buddhism does have its inherently comic/ironic element.
Don't really see how this applies to rebuilding the statues and not to the building of ornate new Buddhist temples, which happens all the time. If the Afghans allow it, the statues will be rebuilt so that future generations can see for themselves the majesty of what was built over a thousand years ago. Westerners, like the Afghans, see them as idols, but to Buddhists, they are among the last and oldest relics of an ancient religion that predates Christianity by 500 years.
Zhang... Westerners also see them as among the last and oldest relics of an ancient religion that predates Christianity. Why else do you think there were such international protests at their destruction (lesson: "international condemnation" is irrelevant to a determined adversary)?
And why else would the Westerners cited in this article have gone to so much time and trouble to make restoration possible?
As for building new temples, no it's not inconsistent. Temples, monuments, etc... it's kind of like doing an elaborate sand painting. It's great to do while it lasts, and had benefits of its own, but when the time comes to sweep it away that's part of the process too and one moves on without attachment. That which was is gone, and there will be more, and the world turns.