Following widespread outrage over the destruction of ancient Buddha statues in Afghanistan, a monk from Taiwan said yesterday he will form a global commission to try to prevent any similar incidents.
The Venerable Dharma Master Hsin Tao (心道法師) wants leaders from major religions, as well as business and government leaders, to keep better track of threats to holy sites so action can be taken more quickly.
"War, environmental degradation, religious intolerance and cultural indifference threaten sacred sites around the world on a daily basis," said Master Hsin Tao, spiritual leader of the Ling-Jiou Mountain Monastery (
The secretary general of a religious summit that has advised the UN supports the plan, saying the world was too slow to complain when Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers blew up the two giant Buddha statues last month.
The Taliban called the statues idolatrous and offensive to Islam, but numerous critics said humanity had lost important cultural treasures.
"Over a year ago, there were people who were crying out for help," said Bawa Jain of the Millennium World Peace Summit, which convened more than 1,000 religious leaders at the UN last year.
"People had offered to move the statutes to a safe place because of the growing tensions, but they received very little response," Jain said. "When the response did come, it was too late. Tensions had built."
Religious leaders have the ear of many global decision makers, both in business and politics, as well as the ability to reach millions of common people who were angered by the statue destruction, he said.
Master Hsin Tao said he is hiring experts at Harvard University's Center for the study of World Religions to come up with a comprehensive list of sacred sites that are in danger, but he's already worried about some holy places.
"We are particularly concerned about some of the sites in Asia, such as sacred Buddhist sites in Indonesia and Cambodia and sacred sites in Kashmir," he told a news conference.
Master Hsin Tao expressed worries about the 1,100-year Borobudur temple in Central Java, Indonesia, as well as a holy stone cave in Cambodia -- both located in nations that have seen much turmoil in recent years.
He said fighting in Kashmir threatens a number of sites along the Silk Road -- the ancient crossroads from the Near East to the Far East.
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