[ This is Essay # !5 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
Buddha, the Taliban and Pakistan
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I have been working on this composition for quite a while. I was angered, rather revolted by what the Taliban were doing in the pristine Swat valley that has recently undergone full scale war. What has the peaceful and serene Buddha to do with the war on terror and US imperialism in Afghanistan? I have friends who try and explain that the regrouped and re-energised Taliban represent the angst against the US occupation of the Pashtun lands. Perhaps there is some truth in this. But my Gautam, what was his fault? He only talked of peace in this region and only asked us to traverse and preserve our humanity.
Who are these butchers of culture? What Islam they follow? They have no religion except barbarity and tribal notions of revenge and blood-letting. There is no excuse for the vandalism against our vital heritage - Pakistan will be a poorer place if these mad, roving fundamentalists would remove all the signs of our pre-Islamic heritage and ancient cultures.
So this painting evolved in those days of anguish. I remembered a broken Buddha head that was discovered from Swat decades ago and thanks to my useful library I got the picture. So I took the Taliban flag background, which is tri-coloured (that should be black in my not so humble opinion); and transposed the Buddha on top and to indicate my fears, I painted the star and the crescent on the green portion to represent the Muslim part of the Pakistani flag.
So this is the little story that led to the painting above. My partner likes it and a few friends who saw it, also appreciated it. I have to thank my art teacher for guiding me through the shades and shadows with little [master] strokes here and there..
I plan to do a series on it. But I will have to travel to Swat; and I am not sure when will situation normalise there. In the meantime, I plan to rely on my Gandhara books and twopence imagination.
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Raza Rumi is a freelance writer. He regularly writes for the Pakistani weekly the Friday Times; and blogs at Jahane Rumi. Rumi also edits an e-magazine Pak Tea House; and also manages Lahore Nama. He can be reached at razarumi@gmail.com.
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raza sahab
thanks for sharing your thoughts here. and the links to other articles on your blog are indeed educative.
‘What has the peaceful and serene Buddha to do with the war on terror and US imperialism in Afghanistan?’
yes, one would like to know that. and one would also like to know what kind of islam do the vandals speak for. one might think it’s a new kind of politics, but as a commenter on the paurava post on your blog pointed out, it isn’t really new. it took spain eight centuries to erase all traces of islam but in the space of the last one decade or so, we’ve seen the random bombing and destruction of ancient libraries in iraq, the pulling down of the babri masjid in india and the beheading of the buddha in the pashtun regions. and one shudders to think of what else was purified or dismissed as collateral damage elsewhere. this old/new politics has gained new pace now.
Thanks, Raza for being here!
I understand and share your grief on the vandalism, and of course, have no sympathy with the violence. But to strike a tangential note here: while one can understand the historical relevance of the statues, one would also remember that the Buddha himself would not endorse his statues, indeed, no statues of the Buddha were made for at least three centuries after his demise.
He would have perhaps said that if all you make are my statues, these are bound to be blown away sooner or later. If you really want to know me, you will know me not by bowing or admiring my statues, but becoming the Buddha.
Thanks for the comments. I am most encouraged -
Buddha would not have endorsed the statues and the cult of the personality, I agree. However, the issue here is that this becomes a part of the larger heritage that defines the collective consciousness, informs the present and influences the future.
I’d rather have Buddhas survive for the next generation than the Taliban flags.
It is important that we cherish the faiths, movements and histories that we went through rather than obliterate what is essential to our hisrotical identity.
Point taken nevertheless :)
Considering the fact that amongst the various schools of Buddhism are those that worship idols of the Buddha and others that do not, I think it is fair to state that the idols have huge religious significance for a large number of people.
This is besides the fact that the statues form part of the sub-continent’s archaelogical heritage.
for a long time art was inspired by religion. and buddha much as he would have disliked it did become a religious figure. despite being an atheist everytime i look at the marble head of buddha i have in my bedroom i feel a sense of peace. so there is something in a symbol, a sort of shortcut to the deeper meanings that are associated with the person that is symbolised. the bamiyan buddhas were magnificient works of art. so bhupinder it is not the loss of the symbol which definitely the buddha would not have regretted but the loss of a work of art that hurts.
Dont get me wrong folks. I was just trying to see the silver lining around the clouds:-)
Jo toot gaya so toot gaya
kab ashkon se jud sakta hai
tum nahak tukrey chun chun kar
daman mein chupaye baithey
sheeshon ka masiha koyee nahiin
kya aas lagaye baithey ho (Faiz)
Has any one ever wondered about the following:
If a book (the Qur’an in this situation) is meant to be from God/Allah, why do two individuals of equivalent intelligence always come up with different interpretations of the text?
There are many contradictions in the Quran; the only people unable to see them are those completely brainwashed and have lost the ability to think rationally. They come up with all sorts of historical/non-historical justifications for these such as the arabic language/literary peculiarities etc. nothing substantial or scientific; perhaps they are not aware of this concept.
There are literally billions ans billions of galaxies and star systems in our “known” universe; supposedly we are talking about a creator that is well beyond the confines of any material boundaries; why would such a “person” even care about what goes on in individual hearts and minds on a teeny weeny planet! Why would he be upset about, for example, a woman showing off a bit of skin or someone not observing some ritual exactly how it was prescribed (when there are literally hundreds of such, very contradictory, rituals in Islam amongst the sects; not to quote countless other similar examples.
If the “Loh-e-Mahfouz” was the first thing created with the deeds of all living things and their fate already prescribed, what the hell is the meaning of “the free will”?!
If a ruler of my country wanted me to abide by ceratin rules, I would expect them to be laid down explicitly and clearly for all to understand. Otherwise, I would think they were unjust in prosecuting me for misgivings; why are there so many ambiguities as to what the “true Islam” is; that definition is certainly not unanimous by anyone’s standards as we ll know; the interpretations are so varied and far apart at times that it is mind boggling!
According to the Quran, Allah gave his blessings to the Bani Israel but they betrayed his trust many a times, so he went off them completely and chose a different people for revival of his “Only and True Message”! Are we thinking that an omniscient and omnipotent God, with the inherent knowledge of everything, transcendent through the confines of time, made a mistake!! Then he tried to correct it by chosing arabia for his chosen messanger! How odd!!
Prayer is such a contradictory term, don’t you think. If all is already decided, does God change his mind if we were to grovel before him and grants us our desires as a reward; very confusing!!
The only answers I ever got for these as a child, and many other similar questions, was that we CANNOT work out God’s will and he is the only one who does; what the hell are we doing with our assess up in the air five times a day then!!
All of the above seem to be the desires of the needy and not fullfilled “persona” (to quote Al-Razi); Is it that we have created this “persona” is OUR OWN IMAGE rather than the other way around?
Is our “conflict” with the rest of the world sheer paranoia “they are out to get us”!! and the only reason we cannot accept this is our inherent “sense of pride” so deeply indoctrinated that we cannot listen to reason.
The reason I am talking about the Islamic context here is because that is my background and I wish to discuss the very foundations of this faith. It is all very well to hide behind the “good aspects” of Islamic history and ignore the other “less desirable” aspects, but the question is what it is all based on; without foundation, there is nothing left. I criticise any dogma based on “faith” and th other so-called faiths are no exception to this; however, I prefer people from those cultures to comment on their own cultural heritages.
Problem with being “moderate” is that moderation, whatever it might mean, harbours and nurtures extremist elemnts. Extremists to me mean people who are trying to follow their “faiths” down to the last letter. This Sufism etc have nothing to do with what Islam actually is; it is a digression from the mainstream. Sufis were always at the fringes of mainstream society and their ideas of “Sulha-e-kul” etc have nothing to do with the message of Islam; though I do admit it can make Islam a bit more palatable!
If we had all the “knowledge/Ilm” in the Quran, why would we strive for more; the whole idea of “the completeness” of “Deen/way of life” is not compatible with modernity of any kind, however that is defined. Of course we can cherry pick and find quotes to justify absolutely anything that WE WANT TO; that itself is the biggest weakness of religious dogma; interpretable with vast differences of opinions between individuals of equivalent intelligence!