All Buddhist statues in
Afghanistan were destroyed recently because they were considered to be
deviating from the tenets of Islam—the Taliban says that Islam forbids
images (such as painting and pictures) and idol worship. This is the
most ridiculous news that I have heard. It is hard to imagine that such
a barbarous act would still happen at the beginning of the 21st century,
when ancient relics are treated with respect all over the world and the
preservation of mankind』s cultural heritages is of great concern to all
governments.
If the act of destroying all statues is aiming to
eliminate idolatry from Afghanistan altogether, then it is curious that
similar statues of the Muslim religion are still standing mightily in
Afghanistan. This double standard is a disgrace. Moreover, Buddhist
statues are no longer simply a part of religion, but are now a part of
that country』s heritage and history. Therefore, the Taliban is in fact
destroying the country』s cultural heritage arbitrarily in the name of
eliminating idol worship. What』s worse, through the destruction of the
Buddhist statues, the Buddhists in Afghanistan (a religious minority)
have now fallen under a most severe form of religious persecution.
Such atrocities often result in devastation for
the minority. In a story written by Shirley Jackson, titled 「The
Lottery,」 lives of selected villagers were lost because people in that
village believed that a good harvest could only result from the
sacrifice of human lives. Likewise, the Taliban also believe that it is
only through the destruction of Buddhist statues that idolatry would be
eliminated from Afghanistan. Yet, as we have seen, it only results in
the elimination of precious cultural traditions. Although the Taliban』s
foreign minister may claim that 「Other countries should understand that
this is an internal issue and these statues belong to Afghanistan,」 in
fact, the statues are the heritage for all mankind. The statues belong
to all of us.
All cultures have their own ways of life, of
course, and each government has full autonomy in its country. Still, it
would be wise to avoid unnecessary sacrifices. There is a difference
between the stupid and the wise: the stupid always absorb the lessons
from their own experience, while the wise absorb the lessons from
others. The world has now witnessed the ignorance of Afghanistan in
destroying Buddhist artifacts, thus depriving themselves of an
opportunity to learn from Buddhism. Perhaps the beginning of the
Taliban』s re-education would be exactly to learn from the remaining
Buddhist religious and cultural treasures, the Buddhist believers
living in Afghanistan.