A 1,000-year-old stone Buddha head stolen from a Chinese monastery will go on display in Taipei for two weeks before it is returned to China.
The stone head of the Akshobhya Buddha statue from the Four Gate Pagoda of the Shentong Monastery in Shandong Province, was sawed off and stolen in 1997. The head was then moved around the globe for several years before being bought by some Taiwanese.
The relic was presented to Master Sheng Yen (聖嚴), the founder of the Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) Foundation, earlier this year as a gift for the foundation's planned museum of Buddhist history and culture.
It will be returned to Shandong Province by the foundation next month.
"Returning this 1,300-year-old Buddhist relic to its historic roots and restoring it to its original dignified completeness is much more important than keeping it here at the DDM," he said.
He said the return of the Buddha head is also a move in support of international campaigns for cultural preservation as this year has been proclaimed as the "UN Year for Cultural Heritage."
The DDM requested government approval to return the head to China after experts confirmed it was the missing head of the Akshobhya Buddha statue that is located at the east wall of the central column of the Four Gate Pagoda, which was built during the Sui Dynasty (581-618).
In 1963 the statue was ranked as China's most important artifact.
In September, the Cabinet approved a Ministry of Education proposal to allow the transfer.
Yen has decided to allow the public an opportunity to view the head before it is to be returned to China. It will be displayed at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall from Sunday through Dec. 15
People who go to see the Buddha head will be able to write their blessings and wishes on wooden plates, some of which will then be used to build the crate in which the head will be transported back to China via Hong Kong.
Tomorrow the DDM will hold a blessing ceremony for the restoration of the Buddha head at its Peitou headquarters.
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