[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> disposal of surplus buddhas

[Erik Davis <figment@sirius.com>]

>
>
>Well, he did not want to be worshipped, though lots of his followers seemed
>to forget that.
>
>The interesting story, and perhaps nettimers might have the details (I
>don't) is that the Taliban were upset with the cultural mission that came to
>discuss the statues but would not allow the restauration funds be used for
>aiding people/refugees.  It was at this moment that they decided to trash
>the statues. In short, the tolerate-no-icon  reason given by the clerics was
>not the main reason.
>
>Anyone know more about this?

A young man sent to NY to represent the Taliban spoke quite 
explicitly about these matters to the NYT. This surprised me. Unlike 
the media portrayals (and what I can only imagine is the frequent 
reality) of the hardcore clerics, he was pretty reasonable, and spoke 
explicitly about the offense they took to the  lack of care exhibited 
by, I believe, the UN representatives about feeding the kids, etc. 
While he still rolled out the anti-iconography line, from this 
interview, he seemed to be acknowledging that the destruction was 
pretty much a "fuck you."

This destruction has produced some interesting responses in the 
Buddhist community. What most people focus on isnt the slip into 
idolatry (which itself is a rather complex question) but rather the 
impermanence of everything, including the dharma. The Buddha himself 
proclaimed (or at least the sutras proclaim) that the dharma itself 
would fade away, which it did in northern India and  Afghanistan and 
much of the Silk Road mileau where it once thrived. Though some 
Buddhists were very upset about the destruction, others were like: 
"Hey, what did you think all this impermanence stuff was about?" 
These folks werent gonna be caught dead clinging to such obvious 
forms. For some people the usual religious response -- to get all 
angry and upset about such sacrilege -- was itself seen as the gauche 
and "unenlightened" response.

erik



>
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