Buddhi Chaudhary
Brief History of Mes Anyak Temple
Mes Aynak (is a site 40 km (25 mi)
southeast of Kabul, Afghanistan, located in a barren region of Logar Province. The site contains Afghanistan's largest copper deposit, as well as the remains of an
ancient settlement with over 400 Buddha statues, stupas and a 40 ha (100 acres) monastery
complex. It is also considered a major transit route for insurgents coming from Pakistan. Archaeologists are only beginning to
find remnants of an older 5,000-year-old Bronze Age site beneath the Buddhist level,
including an ancient
copper smelter.
Mes Anyak consist vast amounts of Buddhist monasteries, homes
and market areas. The site contains artifacts from the bronze ages and some of
recovered artifacts dated back more than three thousands year ago. The site's orientation on the Silk Road has yielded a
mixture of elements from Iran, China and India. According to geological
resources, Mes Anyaka residents were spent their live prosperously. India,
China and Iran were their main importer.
Definition of Aesthetics
According to the philosophical dimensional evidences,
Aesthetics may be defines narrowly as the theory of beauty or more broadly as
that together with the philosophy of arts. The traditional interest in beauty
or aesthetical philosophy itself was broadened in the eighteen century. In 1950
number of pure aesthetics philosophy was discussed through the expanded
literature which developed the concepts even more.
Whenever we look towards its history, traditionally
aesthetics or the philosophy of art concentrated on its definition, but,
recently, this has not been focus on its definition individually. They define
it with careful analysis of aspects of art largely. So, philosophy of arts here
considers the later-day-development concepts.
Though the facts, they are, the full field of what might be
called “Aesthetics’ is very large topics to be discussed. There are even now four
volumes of encyclopedia that discuss these topics. But the core issues
regarding had been settled. During the eighteen century most of philosophers
regarded or defined it as “The pleasure of the imagination” which was written
by the journalist Joseph Addison in the early issues magazine The September
in 17712.
During the same century, the most thoroughgoing and
influential was given by the Philosopher Immanuel Kant. Therefore it is
important, first of all, to have some sense how Kant defined the term
Aesthetics.
According to the resources evidences, Kant was a formalist
in art theory. Certainly he was a formalist about the pure enjoyment of
nature but for Kant most of the arts were impure because they
involved with “Concepts.” Even the enjoyment parts of nature was impure
namely when a concept was involved- as when we admire the perfection of animal
body or a human corso. It is because morality requires we rise above ourselves
that such an exercise in selfless attention becomes obligatory. Judgments of
pure beauty, being selfless, initiate one into the moral point of view. “Beauty
is a symbol of morality” and “The enjoyment of nature is the mark of a good
soul” are key sayings of a Kant. The shared enjoyment of a sunset or a beach
shows there is harmony between is all and the world.
Whenever, we concern to the Platonic Philosophy, Phaedrus-
Plato admires mania of arts, crafts and poets, though has different views. Using
the word “Lon”, he says arts and crafts and poetry is beautiful and true but,
if artists and poets have rhapsodies, irrational and lack of knowledge have no
rational controls while beautifying arts and poems. He says the arts and crafts
and poems which is “Enthousiasmos, operate under inspiration” the most
beautiful poems.
In contrast, Aristotle gives different definitions to Plato.
He says “Poetry may imitate men as they are or better and worse. Poetry gives
us idealized visions of reality. He takes up the cudgels on behalf of poetry
and effectively brings out its superiority. For him, Aesthetics or beauty is
here in this world. In that sense, he is much and more realistic in aesthetics
philosophies.
According to the Oxford dictionary, Aesthetics is
the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and
appreciation of art, beauty and good taste. It has also been defined as
"critical reflection on art, culture and nature". The word
"aesthetics" derives from the Greek "aisthetikos", meaning
"of sense perception".
Merriam
Dictionary gives quite same definitions. It says “relating to the philosophy of aesthetics; concerned with
notions such as the beautiful and the ugly. 2. Relating to the science of aesthetics; concerned with the
study of the mind and emotions in relation to the sense of beauty. 3. Having a
sense of the beautiful; characterized by a love of beauty.”
Whatever the facts
are, Aesthetics, or the philosophy of art, is the study of beauty and
taste. It is about interpreting works of art and art movements or theories.
There are many
different ways to be shown aesthetical definitions. They are
1.
Idealism
2.
Realism
3.
Subjectivism
4.
Objectivism
5.
Materialism and
6.
Absolutism etc.
Idealism
It would be better
to know the definition, interpretation and meaning of the word “Idealism” first
to have better aesthetical views towards the Buddha statues at Mes Anyak
temple in Afganistan. In philosophy, idealism is the group of philosophies which
assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental,
mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Idealism could be related with
several meanings. It comes via idea from the Greek idein (ἰδεῖν), meaning "to see". According
to Woodrow Wilson’s political idealism, it generally suggests that priority of
ideals, principles, values, and goals over concrete realities. Idealists are
understood to represent the world as it might or should be, unlike pragmatists, who focus on the world as it
presently is. In the arts, similarly, idealism affirms imagination and attempts
to realize a mental conception of beauty, a standard of perfection, juxtaposed
to aesthetic naturalism and realism
According to Buddhist views of points, there are two ways of
looking arts and beauty called internal and external. Internal is more related
to idealism. Since both of them affirms imagination and attempts to realize a
mental conception of beauty. Both of them would say, beauty exists within mind
but not in materials, Buddha images. For instance, idealists will
concern the beauty of Buddha statues of Mes Anyak temple the form, it have but
not what their mind perceives beauty as it is.
They will say the Buddha statues in Mes Anyak temple
is not the images as it really is but simply as it appears to be. The best
reflection of the statues is not found in physical and mathematical categories
but in terms of self-aware thought because thought is the relation of each
experience to that which it expresses, rather than the imposition of ready-made
answers.
Idealists will concern or view the concepts as real. Thus 'Buddha
statues in Mes Anyak temple' is to be seen to have a reality beyond being just
an idea.
Realism
Realism in the arts is the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully,
without artificiality and
avoiding artistic conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements.
Realists will concern beauty of the Buddha statues in
Mes Anyka temple as it is truthfully, without any illusionary looks, avoiding
artistic conventions. They will concern more the moral qualities it has than
artistic conventions of the images.
Subjectivism
Contrast to the Realism, Subjectivists will discuss or
say that the knowledge, truths and goods of the Buddha statues in Mes Anyak
temple is just a works that are not true because Aesthetic
subjectivism is a
judgment not affected by standards or norms through which art or beauty is
typically judged. “I know what I like” is the battle cry for aesthetic
subjectivism. This category can include beauty, art and virtually
anything else on earth, and is the broadest aesthetic classification. No
one must justify their singular appreciation of beauty to anyone, and there is
no compulsion to define it within a larger context. This broad
appreciation of art and beauty simultaneously allows for both the most and
fewest philosophical arguments, but also offers room for everyone to be an
expert in their own mind. I do not fault anyone for appreciating art in a
subjective way. Relying only minimally on shared meaning and perceptions,
however, I do find fault with an artist using aesthetic subjectivism to call
anything he or she wishes art.
According to the German Philosopher Benedetto Croce “Art is a true aesthetic synthesis, "a priori" of
feeling and image in the intuition, as to which it may be repeated that feeling
without image is blind, and image without feeling is void” which is similar to
subjectivism.
Though, I get not much sense, when I see the Buddha statues
in Mes anyak temple but I do appreciate it subjectively. Personally, I believe
that beauty in the statues exist as it is or it is beautiful because of its
moral appearance like love, compassion, commiserations and loving
kindness.
Relativism
Though, personally, I dismay to agree with this concept
called relativism but I would like to discuss in brief, what relativism really
means. Aesthetic relativism is a judgment of beauty relative to individuals, cultures, a
particular time period or context. It allows for changing sensibilities
and norms. We are allowed to appreciate art without applying a uniform or
modern-day standard, recognizing it as a product of its times and
culture.
For
example, the Buddha statues in Mes Anyak temple from 600 B.C. of a youth
would be considered primitive by contemporary standards, but it is appreciated
as art when placed in the context of its time period.
Concerning
through Relativistic views on the beauty of the Buddha statues in Mes Anyak
temple, Relativism permits us to appreciate crude compositions of the Buddha
images-understanding that its appreciation does not diminish by the other
works. It’s seemed like looking the images quite logically “standards” and
can be applied to art as well as the more generic category of beauty.
What
it has?
Being
or agreeing to the subjectivism, whenever I saw the Buddha statues in Mes Anyak
temple in southern parts of Kabul in Afghanistan, questions arose upon me, what
it has (concepts, moral qualities, characters) than the questions how (
it was composed) or where does the form exists. I tried to look what
the Buddha statues of the temple define than looking its beauty. I concerned
more internally than finding the external answers.
For
example; my colleague who is much more idealistic defined the statues the
beauty what his mind perceives it as beauty but not externally that the image
has. Contrast to my colleague, I concerned much more towards the qualities that
images have. I concerned more about the moral values of the image. Whenever, we
deeply concern the images, it consist wisdom prospects, loving-kindness,
compassion –commiserations and softness. As the Buddha says “Mamsani Tassa
Vaddhati Panna Tassana Vaddhati, though the body growth, wisdom not.” Thus
as, we can’t judges anything what we see from outside individually but internally
should be looked too. What it has, question is much and more match, whenever we
concern the beauty of the Buddha statues in Mes Anyak temple in south of Kabul
in Afghanistan.
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