Word: buddha
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Many archaeologists and scholars agree that a third Buddha exists in Bamiyan?and that it escaped the Taliban's idol-busting spree. It's a whopper; this Buddha is believed to measure up to 200 m long (the upright ones were just 55 m and 38 m high). According to meticulous records kept by Xuanzang, a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who trekked to Bamiyan in the 7th century, the Buddha is shown reclining?and dying; freed from his body, he achieves nirvana, or enlightenment...
...that wretched day in January 2001, Hussain found some small consolation in his secret. He is convinced that just a few meters away from where the Taliban were war dancing lies a third, giant Buddha hidden beneath the earth, wearing a blissful smile, unperturbed by the terrible destruction that turned his two sturdy companions into shimmering billows of sand. Hussain gestures to a cratered, rocky slope beside an ochre cliff face where the pair of 1,700-year-old Buddhas were blasted away by several hundred kilos of TNT. "Our Hazara ancestors have always known that there's another Buddha...
...about the Golden Triangle's bloody, tumultuous past. At its heyday in the 13th century, Chiang Saen was one of the most important cities in the Lanna kingdom; it boasts plenty of sites of archaeological significance, some dating to the prehistoric era. The museum has a fine collection of Buddha images, stone inscriptions and ceramics, as well as a section on the area's rich hill-tribe culture. Chiang Saen is about 60 km from Chiang Rai, and the museum, at 702 Phahonyothin Road, is easy to find. Just hop in a tuk tuk or call...
...BUDDHA IN THE BACKYARD Enter the stone gates of the Bagan Hotel and you could be forgiven for thinking you've stumbled upon yet another reconstructed temple. The elaborate teak and brick reception hall is built in the ancient architectural style. Wedged between the major sites of old Pagan and the banks of the Irrawaddy River, the resort is a shady oasis of fragrant flowering trees and rustic guesthouses, which blend with their sacred surroundings. Built in the wake of the government's 1996 Visit Myanmar Year campaign, the resort is run by the enigmatic Juergen Dieter Voss, who, with...
...valuable sightseeing time is not wasted?from the deck chairs, guests can gaze up at the magnificent whitewashed silhouette of the 900-year-old Gawdawpalin Pagoda, or between dips stroll through the garden to visit a pair of 11th century temples, one of which houses a well-tended golden Buddha. It's a place to get away from it all, literally. "It would be easier to take tea with the Queen," says Voss, "than to get a phone call through to Pagan." For reservations, don't ring, but e-mail baganhotel@myanmars.net...