Destruction of Buddhist statues

Just continuing along with the idea of Buddhism and art, I'm fairly sure that most people are familiar about the destruction of the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan back in 2001.  Not going into the political/religious nature of the whole situation, I just found it rather disheartening at the time to see such a wonderful work of art and human ingenuity torn to pieces.

Honestly...something like this must be seen to actually be believed - a mere picture does it no justice.  Still, it is interesting to think about how events from way back then, during the flourishing period of the Silk Road and the role it played in spreading religious beliefs far and wide are still holding a considerable deal of influence even today in modern times.  I suppose it just goes to show that time does not matter and even the smallest of events can hold a key role in future events.

 Destruction of a statue by the Taliban in 2001

Buddhist Art

Art, whatever you  may personally define it as, is always a beautiful thing to reflect on, I've found.  It's a medium by which people from virtually all cultures and societies can relate to.  It is a medium by which ideas, stories, feelings and emotions can be expressed and interpreted, in a variety of ways.

Religious art, in particular, is a fascinating 'grouping', if you may, of art that I've particularly enjoyed examining.  I've just always found myself quite intrigued by the manner and style by which many of these are produced - in particular, Buddhist statues...vast ones, built upon mountain sides through primitive means many years ago.  From this week's readings, I was quite surprised to see that the Buddha is actually portrayed in a number of different 'styles' from the one that I am used to.  In my house, when I was growing up, my parents had a miniature jade Buddhist statue, that looked much like this:

It was my impression that this was the 'only' representation of Buddha - a large, jolly, laughing bald man.  How utterly wrong I was!  Not only from the fact that this is not the only representation of Buddha (there being much smaller versions of him), but the fact that there is not just 'one' Buddha per se, as I generalized.  I suppose that'd partly explain why I soon found myself looking at very different images of a Buddha:

It was only after further reading into the week's assignment that I saw how the spread of Buddhism into different countries and cultural groups soon found itself being influenced, in no small ways - including the very portrayal of the Buddha.  In particular, the Kushan portrayal of the Buddha - fully attired in the traditional attire of the particular cultural group - is quite different from the large laughing Buddha (which is, in fact, not technically a portrayal of the Buddha himself - a common misconception that I've been a victim of!)

Still, I found it quite interesting to see, further on on my own research, the different ways by which various cultural groups will interject their own cultural 'imagery' into a, once, foreign religion.  I suppose it's just one of many ways by which a new religion can be made into a more 'acceptable' thing within a new society - inter-graining it somehow with an already existing culture so that it appears more common than 'outsider'.

Video: Buddhism on the Silk Road

I thought that this was a fairly appropriate video, going with the theme of Buddhism that we'll be going over in class next week...I still can't get over just how exactly they were able to carve out those magnificent statues that are embedded right in the mountains

Zoroastrianism and its influence

I will confess that I knew virtually nothing about Zoroastrianism before going through the readings from this past week in the course reader - as always, it's quite an enjoyable experience to learn something new.

What struck me as the most interesting thing was the similarities that I was able to draw from this ancient tradition to more 'recent', mass-practised religions.  There is in Zoroastrianism the belief of creation from a Higher Being or Authority, much like the three Abrahamic traditions - these are apparently evident in the themes laid out in the Gathas and seem to be followed, more or less, in the Bible, Quran and Torah.  The basic principals and concepts is spread out between all four of these traditions - the idea of purity, good and evil in the universe, life and death, which involves the idea of an afterlife, are just a few of the main themes that can be seen in Zoroastrianism, and in turn in the Abrahamic traditions.  In that way, it would seem like Zoroastrianism has a degree of influence upon those traditions, perhaps in a manner by which they can trace their roots back up to it.

Just looking at this picture, I can't help but

find it quite reminiscent to Christian artistic portrayals of Jesus Christ

It's interesting drawing up these sort of connections between seemingly different religious practises and examining similar themes and ideas that come up.  In that way it's a pretty unique way to examine the history of a religion - backtracking and seeing what sort of other traditions may have had some sort of influence on how said tradition is shaped and practised.  Similarities are clearly seen in this way, and I think it wouldn't be too far from the truth to draw up this sort of connection.  Doctrinal similarities from the Gathas, and even some of their prescribed practises are somewhat similar in manner to some of the Abrahamic tradtions' practises.  Emphasis on cleanliness, prayer, purity and goodness - these can be traced up and seen in the older Zoroastrian tradition.  It's just interesting to see how a tradition, now a minority in terms of practise, has had such an incredible influence on traditions that are now far more dominant, in practise.

Zoroastrian Sadah Feast