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CNN Live At Daybreak

Modern War On Terror Echoes Buddhist Mythology

Aired January 02, 2002 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: When you think of Afghanistan, you might think of Islam.

But CNN's Nic Robertson shows up the current anti-terror war echoes centuries-old Buddhist mythology.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not far from Tora Bora and the White Mountains, local history has it Buddha once flew here to fight a dragon in a cave. Mythology tells us the dragon was merely the spirit of a disgruntled cow herder, who committed suicide.

To look around here now, perhaps little has changed, fewer cows, more sheep and goats maybe. Little vestige though, of the thousands of stupas, Buddhism's places of worship, that dotted the landscape for centuries when this place was an essential stop on any Buddhist trail of relics.

(on camera): Of caves and bad spirits, though, something permeates the ages, the common thread of good vs. evil transcending the centuries.

(voice-over): The difference today, those that flew here to fight their demon, came from the west, not the east. They delivered their blow with a fiery vengeance that echoed up and down the hillsides.

Caves billowed smoke, although not from any fire-breathing dragon. The white rock that makes these mountains, split asunder, by a power unrecognizable two centuries ago, never mind two millennia. When the dust settled, no trace of the dragon, only a lair loaded with hate and bad intentions. The modern day's dragon's henchmen, disciples of their master suicide plan, herded down the hillside and paraded for the chroniclers of the day.

Had Buddha left such a recording, would we now play it on our world history CDs? But history here is still in the making. These modern knights ride out daily to search caves that appear devoid of dragons. The best of the local fighters seem sure that bad spirits have been driven away.

So when this story is told two millennia from now, will it still be a simple parable of good vs. evil? Who will have triumphed and how? Impossible to say. Likely, though, this chronicler's tale will seem as ancient and hard to phantom as the tales of Buddha's exploits 2,000 years ago.

Nic Robertson, CNN, near Tora Bora, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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