Free Republic

11/09/2007 PAKISTAN Another attack on the giant Buddha of Swat In the valley of Swat, north western Pakistan, Islamic militants have launched a second attack in less than a month on the gigantic sacred statue. The head, shoulders and feet have been destroyed while the militants threaten a third and final attack. Islamabad (AsiaNews) – A group of Islamic militants have attacked for the second time in less than a month the giant Buddha carved in the rocks of Swat Valley, in north western Pakistan. Despite the many requests for greater protection, the government has failed to intervene in any...

Facelift for world's tallest ancient Buddha statue in China Tue Nov 6, 10:33 PM ETAFP/File Photo: Tourists visit the 71-metre (234-feet) tall Leshan Giant Buddha, built in 713 AD in the... BEIJING (AFP) - The world's tallest ancient Buddha statue, suffering from years of environmental damage, will get its latest facelift to fix damage from weathering and acid rain. ADVERTISEMENT The 71-metre (237-foot) Leshan Buddha, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, is looking "somewhat battered" with a blackened nose, and with moss and dark streaks coating its face and body, official Xinhua news agency said. The damage was due to...

Despite repeated requests by Pakistani archeologists to the local authorities to protect the seated Buddha and other sites, especially after the first attack, no action was taken. In fact, militants were able to carry out their work in broad daylight The world watched in horror when Taliban forces destroyed the monumental Buddha statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan in 2001. Political and cultural leaders from around the globe condemned the attacks. Offers of help poured in. Everyone asked: will the world be ready next time? Alas, the answer is a resounding “no.” In northwest Pakistan’s Swat valley, armed Islamist militants recently attacked...

Buddha is welcome but the Bible is banned at the Bloomington, Ind., city hall after officials booted a display of the Ten Commandments erected by Christians wanting equal treatment with the Far East religion promoted by the Dalai Lama. A WND request for comment from Mayor Mark Kruzan wasn't immediately returned but a team of Christians upset over the promotion of Buddhism told WND they are seeking legal advice about their next step. The dispute arose over a display of religious statues of Buddha and other items, including religious cloth paintings, erected in the Bloomington City Hall to coincide with...

Islamists damage giant rock Buddha By Ben Quinn Last Updated: 2:11am BST 11/10/2007 Islamist radicals in Pakistan have attempted to destroy an ancient carving of Buddha by drilling holes in the rock and filling them with dynamite.The Buddha is thought to date from the seventh century AD The 23ft high image was damaged during the attack, which brought back memories of the Taliban's destruction six years ago of the giant Buddhas at Bamiyan, in neighbouring Afghanistan. The Buddha, in the Swat district of north-west Pakistan, is thought to date from the seventh century AD and was considered the largest in...

Islamic militants tried to blow up a statue of the Buddha carved into a mountainside in northwestern Pakistan but did not damage the structure, officials and a witness said Wednesday

1,300-year-old SKorean Buddha unearthed intact Tue Sep 11, 2:05 AM ET SEOUL (AFP) - A 70-ton granite statue of Buddha, which toppled over face-down 1,300 years ago in South Korea, has been unearthed with its features intact. The 5.6-metre (18-foot) sculpture was in May found buried in the southeastern city of Gyeongju and has been partially unearthed after months of work, news reports said Tuesday. The nose missed a rock by only five centimetres when the statue toppled, the English-language JoongAng Daily quoted specialists as saying. "It was a miracle that the Buddha's face was saved by only five centimetres,"...

In Afghanistan, 900-foot Sleeping Buddha eludes archaeologistsBut researchers are finding and preserving other ancient riches. By Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the August 7, 2007 edition BAMIYAN, AFGHANISTAN - After the Taliban fell, France sent Zemaryalai Tarzi to this Afghan valley on a quest bordering on the mythological. His goal: to find Sleeping Buddha, the reclining sculpture that, at 900 feet long, would be nearly 10 times the size of the Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. He brought the ultimate treasure map – the journal of a 7th- century Chinese pilgrim who...

Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s atheist leaders. The ban is included in new rules intended to assert Beijing’s authority over Tibet’s restive and deeply Buddhist people. “The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid,” according to the order, which comes into effect on September 1. The 14-part regulation issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs is aimed at limiting the influence of Tibet’s exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, and at preventing the re-incarnation of the 72-year-old monk without approval from Beijing. It is the latest in a series...

In China he is a symbol of health and happiness. But tell that to the politically correct council officer who objected to a restaurant being called Fat Buddha...because it might offend Buddhists A Buddhist businessman who wants to call his Chinese restaurant Fat Buddha has angered council chiefs - who claim the name will upset Buddhists. Eddie Fung's £1.3million restaurant will open in Durham next month, creating 60 jobs. But the restaurateur was astonished when Tracey Ingle, the city council's head of cultural services, demanded he change the name because it was 'provocative'. Mr Fung, 39, said: "I cannot believe...

The term "bleeding-heart liberal" has been bandied about for years, in an effort to illustrate the faux or at least hyperbolic sense of compassion attributed to those on the left.  The lefties in America and Europe would like to be known as those who care, unless you happen to be a Bible-following Christian, a conservative or a fetus. The information age has facilitated the dissemination of all things cultural, spiritual and intellectual.  One of the most important developments in the West has been the study and practice of Eastern religions and "ways."  Zen Buddhism, for instance, is thought of by...

Paris Hilton is pulling out all stops to avoid going to prison. She's already put in a plea to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and turned to God with church visits and Bible readings - now she’s making sure to cover all spiritual bases. The 26-year-old has turned to Buddha to save her from her 23-day jail sentence.

A Nepalese teenager hailed as a reincarnation of the Buddha has vanished for a second time in southern Nepal, a member of his support committee said Saturday. Ram Bahadur Bomjam, 17, who shot to fame in 2005 when his supporters said he had begun a meditation session that would go on uninterrupted for years, went missing on Thursday night, the committee member said. "He suddenly disappeared from his meditating site in the jungle of Bara," said Raju Shah, a member of the committee set up after the boy became a local media sensation. "He told his priest Indra Lama that...

A NATO airstrike destroyed a Taliban command post in southern Afghanistan, killing a suspected senior militant leader, the alliance said Friday. Separately, an assailant gunned down an Afghan lawmaker who, under the former Taliban regime, oversaw the destruction of two Buddha statues carved into a cliff. Maulavi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, who was the Taliban's governor of Bamiyan province when the fifth-century Buddha statues were blown up with dynamite and artillery in March 2001, was killed on his way to Friday prayers in Kabul, said Zulmai Khan, Kabul's deputy police chief. Mohammadi was elected in 2005 to represent the northern province...

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Thousands of Buddhists gathered in India's western city of Mumbai on Sunday to lay to rest part of the ashes and bones of Lord Buddha in a ceremony resurrected after almost 2000 years. Monks in flowing orange robes chanted hymns from scriptures as the remains were lowered into a shallow pit on top of a 90-ft (27 metres) high stone dome, as part of celebrations to mark the 2250th anniversary of the spiritual leader's enlightenment. Organisers of the ceremony said this was the first time in around 2,000 years that Buddha's mortal remains were being enshrined. "The...

A fire in a 1,000-year-old Buddhist temple in a remote valley of Himachal Pradesh has reduced the pinewood-structure to ashes and also destroyed a number of scriptures, artefacts and murals, officials said. The fire at the temple in Ribba in Kinnaur valley, about 200 km from Shimla, started late on Friday and caused losses of nearly Rs 125 million, they said. Besides, 170 Buddhist scriptures written over centuries by monks on birch paper rolls, many murals of Lord Buddha, antique jewellery and other artefacts have been reduced to ashes. Himalayan pinewood planks that were used to construct the temple only...

The country may be busy celebrating the 2550th year of Buddha's Mahaparinirvana, but grey areas abound on how Buddhism spread across the globe after the first sermon at Sarnath. Which is why the state's archaeology department has finally decided to track the route taken by Buddha's disciples—Kumar Jeev, Kashyap and Matang— to spread his message of peace and harmony. The project, titled "The Buddha Sandesh Yatra", will span 11 countries. Beginning from Sarnath, the team will travel to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afganistan, Pakistan and Tibet.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Dalai Lama urged religious leaders Saturday to reach out to Muslims, saying Islam is a compassionate faith that has been unfairly maligned because of a few extremists. 'snip' He said all human beings are prone to violence if they lose control of their emotions and not to judge an entire faith based on a few people. "A few mischievous people are always there," he said.

Chairman Mao’s features are to gaze over Tibet for the first time. A 7.5m (24½ft) statue of Mao Zedong, whose Red Armies entered the deeply Buddhist Himalayan region in 1951 to extend Communist Party rule, is to stand in the newly built Changsha Square in Gongga. The figure, which weighs 35 tonnes, is a gift to the small Tibetan town from Mao’s birthplace, the Chinese city of Changsha, where it is seen standing before transportation by lorry. A government official said: “Tibet does not need only material development. It must also meet the more spiritual needs of its people.” Though...

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali police began hunting on Saturday for a teenaged boy who some people believe is an reincarnation of Buddha after he disappeared from the site where he had been meditating for almost 10 months. Fifteen-year-old Ram Bahadur Bamjon has not been seen since early Saturday, said Hari Krishna Khatiwada, a district official of Bara, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Kathmandu. The boy had been meditating there without food or water since May. Some of his followers are also missing. "So far we have found no trace of them," Khatiwada said. Sitting cross-legged beneath a "pipal" tree,...