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News & ArtsWednesday, October 7, 2009
News At-Risk Buddhas
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 6:39 AM
Considering that the very real chance that the whole county may yet fall to the Taliban—despite the last eight years—maybe we should err on the side of not returning precious religious artifacts to Afghanistan for the time being.
3
The entire "Buddhism is great" thing in western culture is tiresome. Given that it's actually *their* history, who's to say they shouldn't destroy it? When the Taliban rejected aid from Japan to maintain the giant Buddhas on the principle that Japan wasn't providing meaningful food aid to the poor of Afghanistan, they weren't wrong. This isn't the Parthenon being wrecked by an ammo dump, it's the inhabitants of the land deciding they don't want (that particular) useless imaginary friend anymore.
Besides, it's sad to see The Stranger refer to anything in the world as as "precious religious artifacts". Way to disappoint us secular humanists.
Besides, it's sad to see The Stranger refer to anything in the world as as "precious religious artifacts". Way to disappoint us secular humanists.
6
@3 ---- Speaking as a secular humanist, people don't have to believe in religion to see the value of artifacts as tangible doors to history and culture.
7
When the Taliban rejected aid from Japan to maintain the giant Buddhas on the principle that Japan wasn't providing meaningful food aid to the poor of Afghanistan, they weren't wrong
B.S. The Taliban's only "aid' was to the poor of Afghanistan was to rape, loot, and pillage. Oh, and to prevent kids from flying kites and girls from going to school.
@3 You are obsence for trying to view their actions as coming from some moral high ground.
B.S. The Taliban's only "aid' was to the poor of Afghanistan was to rape, loot, and pillage. Oh, and to prevent kids from flying kites and girls from going to school.
@3 You are obsence for trying to view their actions as coming from some moral high ground.
11
Thank you 6!
3, do you realize how much cultural invasion Native Americans have suffered because citizens of the U.S. don’t recognize the significant value of traditional, cultural properties to the various original inhabitants of our country? The cruel implications of this are wounding for generations.
Dan is simply supporting the diversity of local identities and the right of the minorities to conserve their traditional differences.
3, do you realize how much cultural invasion Native Americans have suffered because citizens of the U.S. don’t recognize the significant value of traditional, cultural properties to the various original inhabitants of our country? The cruel implications of this are wounding for generations.
Dan is simply supporting the diversity of local identities and the right of the minorities to conserve their traditional differences.
12
Dan,
Agree. It was a cultural tragedy that those Bhuddas were destroyed. I recall reading Philippe de Montebello's (then director of the MOMA) passionate plea to the Taliban several years ago to have them spare those statues to no avail.
Yes, sometimes artifacts (and I say this with some trepidation) are better off in other places than in the countries of origin. It is clear to me that the Elgin Marbles (the frieze of the Parthenon now in the British Museum) were spared damage due to acid rain on the Acropolis and are in a safer place. I just read that the 3,300 y/o bust of Nefertiti has been reinstalled in a Berlin Museum. I think it's better off there than in Cairo.
Agree. It was a cultural tragedy that those Bhuddas were destroyed. I recall reading Philippe de Montebello's (then director of the MOMA) passionate plea to the Taliban several years ago to have them spare those statues to no avail.
Yes, sometimes artifacts (and I say this with some trepidation) are better off in other places than in the countries of origin. It is clear to me that the Elgin Marbles (the frieze of the Parthenon now in the British Museum) were spared damage due to acid rain on the Acropolis and are in a safer place. I just read that the 3,300 y/o bust of Nefertiti has been reinstalled in a Berlin Museum. I think it's better off there than in Cairo.
13
@3: Buddha isn't an "imaginary friend". he was a real person, is not a god, and is not divine.
the Taliban do not understand who Buddha was, either.
the Taliban do not understand who Buddha was, either.
14
I remember the day the Baghdad Museum was looted. I was on a couple of academic listservs at the time, and art and history professors were openly predicting the devastation that could happen if the museum was left unprotected. A friend of mine said that his professor openly wept in class over the destruction.
We forget that there have been previous periods where iron-fisted ideologues encouraged iconoclasm of offending religious objects as a means of promoting their message. Cathedrals across France have thousands of headless and disfigured saints as a result of the French Revolution; Henry VIII closed the monasteries across England in the 16th Century and looted untold precious objects - the Protestant Reformation didn't help matters.
This is indeed heartbreaking, but it won't be the first time such objects are destroyed in the name of fundamentalism.
We forget that there have been previous periods where iron-fisted ideologues encouraged iconoclasm of offending religious objects as a means of promoting their message. Cathedrals across France have thousands of headless and disfigured saints as a result of the French Revolution; Henry VIII closed the monasteries across England in the 16th Century and looted untold precious objects - the Protestant Reformation didn't help matters.
This is indeed heartbreaking, but it won't be the first time such objects are destroyed in the name of fundamentalism.
15
@ Tyler Pierce,
The Buddhas were not property of the Taliban....or even Afghanistan, really. They were the property of the Hazaras villagers who lived in Bamiyan and regarded their destruction as a sin. The Taliban, who mainly come from the Pakistan border, destroyed and looted the historic treasures of the Hazaras and drove them off their property. And to commemorate the occasion they stole and then sacrificed 50 cows..also stolen from the locals. But hey, I guess that's okay with you. All those millions of tourist dollars now lost are nothing compared to a bag of rice, huh?
The Buddhas were not property of the Taliban....or even Afghanistan, really. They were the property of the Hazaras villagers who lived in Bamiyan and regarded their destruction as a sin. The Taliban, who mainly come from the Pakistan border, destroyed and looted the historic treasures of the Hazaras and drove them off their property. And to commemorate the occasion they stole and then sacrificed 50 cows..also stolen from the locals. But hey, I guess that's okay with you. All those millions of tourist dollars now lost are nothing compared to a bag of rice, huh?
16
Ironically, Buddha would probably have been the least concerned about this. Impermanence and all (he is, after all, the Tathagatha, the Thus-Gone). I mean, look what the Tibetan Buddhists do to their own beautiful mandalas!
Not that I think it's a terrible loss, and especially for the reasons behind it, but there is nonetheless that sense of irony.
Not that I think it's a terrible loss, and especially for the reasons behind it, but there is nonetheless that sense of irony.
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