NEWS: Bad Time To Be A Buddhist Statue

POLITICS: Bad Time To Be A Buddhist Statue

In March, 2001 the Taliban destroyed two giant Buddha statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. The Bamiyan Buddhas were carved into a sandstone cliff and stood 50 meters tall. They were built around the second century, when Afghanistan was an important stop along the Silk Road. But the Taliban destroyed them to stop the worshipping of “false idols.” And now Islamic radicals are at it again.

Pro-Taliban militants have attempted to destroy the next largest Buddhist statue in the world in Northwest Pakistan.

Recently, the area has experienced attacks against anything that is “un-Islamic.”

Last week, militants blew up 60 music, video and cosmetics stalls at a market when the owners refused to close down after being labeled “un-Islamic.” And now the Buddha statue has been attacked and it is not in a remote area. It located along the main road in the valley.

Pakistani archeologists had repeatedly asked local authorities to protect the statue, but they refused to do so, even after a previous failed attack. The militants carried out their brazen attack in the morning and it was not exactly a quick job. On Tuesday morning the armed men drilled holes in the statue, put dynamite inside and blew it up.

Thank God. Or Buddha. Although, you're not supposed to thank Buddha for stuff like that, so thank faulty Taliban engineering. Or anti-engineering. Just fucking thank something, the statue survived. Of course, if you look at the image, the face is gone, which I would consider messing up the statue a bit.

The statue was only saved because it is located on a steep ridge and was difficult to reach. The statue is 2,200 years old and now the largest in the world. But Buddha statues have never faced such a horrible enemy and may soon be wiped out. It’s like a giant Buddha statue genocide.

Ten years ago, the Pakistani’s living in the area were said to be proud of the statues and would take visitors there to show them off. But now, the Taliban has been driven out of Afghanistan, into the mountains of Pakistan and the area has been radicalized. It’s called progress.

Lame.

Too bad Musharraf is spending more time cracking down on his secular liberal political rivals than on the actual Islamist insurrection in his country.

Things were better in Swat when the Akond was still in charge.

F.U.B.A.R.

im heading home from work and am now depressed. i know i am meant to be very liberal and calm, and that islam is a peaceful religion, but this intolerance really gets me in a bad mood. someone help.

I'm sure this was all part of our king's grandiose "vision."

i thought religious conservative-types were supposed to blow up things like Planned Parenthoods and gay bars. did they not get the memo?

Apparently the Taliban aren't familiar with the Buddhist concept of Impermanence.

What's next? Destroying sand mandalas? No!!!!

Oh, the sweet irony.

Give them a break, man, they're in Swat for fuck's sake. How are they supposed to find a Planned Parenthood or even a gay bar? They have to take what they can get.

Good point, actually.

That makes me feel sadness that only an emotican can express

Few religions are truly peaceful if you look at their histories...

Somehow the memo only showed a photocopied ass.

Yeah, pretty much. I see "peaceful religion" as an oxymoron.

Scientologists are peaceful.

Hey why is everyone blaming poor religion all the time, it is just a concept, It cant be responsible for all the mindless piss poor intereptation that create insane close minded followers. Blame the people not the institution...

Those damned warfaring Buddhists.

Actually, it was once common practice to beat the shit out of their detractors and debtors, and then black people just for the hell of it. It was endorsed by Hubbard himself, who treated it with amusement.

Relatively speaking, they do it peacefully.

Until we have the next great holy war (after this one):

Scientologists vs. Liberterians!

Only if Xenu runs on the Democratic ballot.

After the "Free Market" has taken care of the libertarians, they won't be able to afford a war. In fact, they'll be begging the scientologists for handouts.

Back on track, this Buddha destruction is awful.

i can't blame this on islam, really. that religion historically has been super tolerant of diversity. but when people are trying to manipulate others, they'll use the tools at hand, like xenophobia and ethnocentrism, and the result is an us versus them mentality and blowing things up. just sad. but any religion is at risk for that. and i think the religious rhetoric that it may appear to be dressed in has little to do with it.

I hate when people bash people's religions or symbols of it. It's our choice who we worship. yeah this was in another country but still why does it matter to you if the person next to you has a different God?

True enough, it may not be a religion's fault on its own, but rather those who are entrusted with teaching its precepts. Fundamentalism rots the overall encompassing message by trying to make it adhere to a single and rigid interpretation. When intolerance and ignorance combine with destitute and desperate, the result inevitably comes to "us vs. them". Granted, many Americans feel the same way and yet are not living in the same environmental conditions... Perhaps this has more to do with your cited examples of xenophobia and ethnocentrism then religion?

Agreed, intolerance under any form is still intolerance... I guess that's why some individuals inadvertently single out their religions by expressing blatant intolerance or even hatred of others (just tune into some "Christian" program and I think you'll get my meaning). I compare televangelists to snake oil salesmen, the product they sell is bunk and they certainly don't believe (or use) it. They don't accurately represent a religion as a whole, but they are a hell of a lot more noticeable then the quiet worshiper.

Still, some people really don't have a choice when it comes to religion. Their social norms and values are largely set by the environments in which they are born into. We take our cues from parents, family members, friends, political leaders, religious leaders, television personalities, etc. Each individual is exposed to unique stimulus that drives and shapes our understanding of the world around us (religion included). True, some of us can make a choice (turning ones back on hypocrisy ~ losing faith), but I fear that you've taken your freedom to choose for granted. Many in the world aren't even given a choice, there are no options or alternatives... The struggle to survive may be so great, that religion itself offers the only answers and the only possible element of hope.

I consider myself agnostic and find all religions themselves to be at fault. However, I do find there are a few universal truths expressed many, and that there is a spiritual connectivity that all of humankind shares and through that connection we are directly tied to a greater source, though we may never quite understand or recognize it for what it is. It is my opinion that individual spiritual values should supersede all religious canons dogma to begin with. Some fail to recognize the recognize the difference and unfortunately have made both spiritualism and religion synonymous, they are completely independent of one another, yet one proclaims to hold dominion over the other. Einstein said it well when he described us as "children" who have barely begun to understand the universe around us and will never fully know...

To become an absolutionist amid such diversity in the world and the universe around us is to deny the potential of human understanding.

There's two suns and no women, what the hell am I supposed to do!

i fail at the intrarwubs. i've been looking for about an hour and a half for that copier from SNL that had the contoured ass-scanning bed. i can't even find reference to it or a name, much less a clip.

I'm reading The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong. I agree with her opinion on fundamentalism.