Poll: Should the Buddhas Destroyed by the Taliban Be Rebuilt?
Beginning in March 2001, the Taliban destroyed two giant statues of the Buddha that had stood in central Afghanistan since the 7th century. The Taliban initially shot rifles and stinger missiles at the statues, which had been carved from the side of a sandstone cliff. Then they used mines, bombs and dynamite. Finally the old statues were reduced to rubble.
Bamiyan was a thriving Buddhist religious site from the 2nd to the 9th centuries, with many monasteries and temples full of beautiful Indo-Greek art. The two giant standing figures depicted the Buddhas Vairochana (53 meters, or about 174 feet high) and Shakyamuni (37 meters, or 121 feet high). They were the largest standing Buddha statues in the world.
Aryn Baker writes at Time.com that the statues may be rebuilt. Original fragments of the statues could be pieced together with cement or other materials, which is the same technique used to repair Angkor Wat in Cambodia. However, if less than 50 percent of the pieces can be found, the rebuilt statues would be considered replicas, not restored originals.
Even if sufficient pieces were recovered, some people of the region want to leave empty the niches where the Buddhas used to stand, as a reminder of the brutality of the Taliban. What do you think?
Photo Caption: At 53 meters, this was the world's largest standing Buddha statue at the time of its destruction.
Photo Credit: UNESCO/A. Levine
Comments
To the nay-sayers, I think that we have enough dead relatives to remind us of the brutality of the Taliban. I think that rebuilding the statues would be a great reminder of how we instead persevere in the wake of the Taliban.
This is a very hard call, but as you remind us Buddhism is not about permanence. It don’t think we need to be reminded of brutality, but the fact that all things are temporary. Tibet Buddhist create beautiful mandalas with colored sand and sweep them away when finished. Though poll is interesting, but after all it’s not up to us. I think if anyone’s opinion should count it would be monks who live and breathe Buddhism. It should be up to them to decide. I’m guessing they are much less attached to the results than we if they are truly in the meditative mind set.
The statues have been destroyed. One might point out that all which happens is divine will. Everything created eventually succumbs. A restoration project whether 50% greater or less is really only a replica and likely largely influenced by the tourist trade. I’ve only seen pictures but I have enormous stone feet scattered with brilliant flowers imbedded in mind forever. The Taliban can’t take that away.
I’m torn on this (though, as Sukhmandir points out, it’s not up to us!).
I guess I end up on the “rebuild them” side, as long as it’s done tastefully. The Buddhas were new once before, and they will become ancient again in due time.
Also, I think it would be such a hopeful symbol of religious tolerance in Afghanistan if the Bamiyan buddhas were rebuilt. Extremism has caused so much damage and suffering there.
I think that rebuilding in the face of destruction is always admirable. Dresden recently opened its rebuilt cathedral, after it was totally destroyed in WWII.
I also don’t think that rebuilding the statues would make them only replicas. Many old structures are replaced bit by bit, as pieces wear out - but the overall piece is still intact. I think rebuilding the Buddhas would be the same.
The motivation for rebuilding the statues is in all likelihood quite alien to the spirit that built them in the first place. Rebuilding them would therefore compound the destruction. The empty space is the best homage to the Buddha.
As many said it is a tough call. I am not sure if enough large pieces would be found to rebuild the statues.
A few years ago I took some guests to see the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The guide there giving a spiel about the bell made an interesting observation. That the crack in the bell was finally left unrepaired, to remind future visitors how fragile liberty is, and how important it is to guard it.
There is no point rebuilding the statues. Use the money you would spend restoring them for a Buddhist practice, such as feeding the poor or needy. Build them in spirit.
This is indeed a hard call. If they are rebuilt as historic relics I feel it’d be a poor use of resources. However if, as a worldwide Buddhist community, we join to rebuild them as our witness to the resiliancy and our faith in the dharma and the power of compassion the work will be worth the effort.