The Buddhas of Bamiyan

When I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini for the first time, I remember reading about the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Central Afghanistan, but it was not until now that I really undestood their significance (I loved The Kite Runner as well). The novel does a wonderful job portraying Afghanistan's most damaged and abused group: the women. It is a story of unlikely friendship, courage, hope, and self-sacrifice. Intertwined between the lives of Marriam and Rasheed is the story of Laila, a girl whose life is affected one day when she visits the Buddhas of Bamiyan with her father. That trip shapes the way she will cope with her future. One of the quotes that struck me the most was when she said "People shouldn't be allowed to have new children if they;d already given away all their love to their old ones."

I began to wonder what gigantic Buddhist statutes were doing in Afghanistan when I started to research. Central Afghanistan was strategically placed to thrive from the Silk Road that connected many many Asian nations. Bamiyan was a stopping point, the Kingdom of Kushun, whose people were responsible for carving wonders of this ancient world. It was a place where languages and religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam all coexisted.

To me it seems like the Buddhas of Bamiyan are a symbol of the evolution of Buddhism; they represent how Buddhism developed internally. This is because they reflect a major shift in Buddhism: at first Buddha was revered as a human figure and later he became a transcendent being and icon. The Buddhas capture this moment in time. In addition to this I connected the ambiguity of Buddism to these statutes, for Buddhism is shaped and seen in virtually every religion in Asia. Vairocana wrote that these Buddhas, "in whom the entire universe is encompassed and their immensity is made literal," can also be compared to Islam in many fashions. For instance, both are inclined to adopt and learn from other cultures and perhaps from their own faith as well. In the Qur'an a specific reference to other religions is made to epitomize this point: "I do not serve what you worship; not do you serve what I worship. You have your own religion and I have mine."