When the Taliban dynamited two 1,700-year-old Buddha statues carved into a sandstone cliff in Afghanistan, it destroyed prized symbols of the country's rich pre-Islamic heritage and enraged scholars and archaeologists worldwide. But it might not have finished the job. A third Buddha--the so-called sleeping Buddha--may yet exist in Bamiyan, buried just feet from where the other Buddhas once stood. A 7th century Chinese traveler left notes describing the sculpture as measuring up to 650 ft. in length and reclining in a state of Nirvana. (The taller of the two upright Buddhas was just 180 ft.) The statue is believed to be...
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