Bamiyan Laser show: Why the Images of the Buddha?

by Aniruddha Barua, Chittagong, Bangladesh, The Buddhist Channel, October 11, 2005

It is good to hear that Mr. Hiro Yamagata agreed to do something good for the people of Bamiyan as well as for Afghanistan. His plans to generate electricity to the locality from his solar power systems and wind-mills is very much appreciable. But my question is, "Why the Images of the Buddha?"

Mr. Yamagata may have been deeply moved by the misery of the orphans and other people of Bamiyan but that simply does not justify the projecting of the Buddha Images onto the cliffs where once the Stone Statues stood. I also hear that many governments and organizations from many countries were planning to re-build the Buddhas or do something similar at that site. Can these initiatives be justified too?

Buddha Images or Statues are not just things which can be destroyed by one group of people and be built by another for just purposes. The biggest fact of all is that there is no Buddhist in Afghanistan today. Mr. Yamagata also mentioned that his project is not driven by of for any kind of religious belief. Then... "Why the Images of the Buddha?"
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