Most likely, Gotama would not have approved of such creations, or clung to their preservation. Buddhism teaches its followers to transcend attachment and ultimately even the illusion of a discrete self. Ironically, it is Western sensibilities, with their high regard for human accomplishment, that have come most unhinged by the destruction of the Bamiyan statues. In ''Buddha,'' Armstrong shuttles heroically between the modern Western outlook and the radically different sensibility at the heart of Buddhism. She fully appreciates that the Buddha, with his strange brand of courage, will seem foreign to the Western temperament.
Meditation enjoys broad popularity.
And the United States alone is home to more than 2,000 Buddhist centers. In ''Buddha,'' we come to appreciate how this astonishing claim to inner strength created a movement that is with us today. However sick we may feel over the destruction in Bamiyan, the compelling invitation of the Buddha remains very much alive. M.J. Andersen is a Providence Journal editorial writer and columnist. The St. Augustine Record and Morris Digital Works .