What is the use of statues and monuments?

 A teaching is something, that which people make out of it is otherwise. When one sees all these statues and all these monuments, one can say unto himself: "With regard to all that which has just been explained – virtue, wisdom, etc.-, what do all these things have to do here?" What all these things have to do here, merely is that humans cannot refrain from doing so. There are always people who are interested into the teaching, who do observe the five precepts, who lead a virtuous life, who practise meditation. But as Buddha claimed it, humans do have very strong religious sentiments. They therefore cannot refrain from erecting all sorts of things. Even though, originally, we find a teaching that seems to be terse enough, sufficiently purified, we could even say technical, we couldn't avoid coming to this point. That is to say, that we finally cope with this religious aspect, which lies in building monuments, in performing ceremonies, in making a whole set of recitations. Sometimes, one sees a group of tourists who watch monks reciting before a monument. This group can say unto himself: "That's religion, they are praying a god, they invoke Buddha, so pious are they!" If there was a translator, each among them would come to know that they simply repeat excerpts of Buddha's word in his maternal dialect (Pali language). It would then be surprising, even amusing, to find out that they say for example: "Here are described the thirty two parts of this body... They are: eyes, teeth, hairs, gall-bladder, liver, loins, urine, excrement, blood, etc." And that they finish their sentence by saying: "this body is disgusting, this body is a bag of skin filled with barren parts, with particularly loathsome things". Among the monks and the novices who regularly recite this kind of texts, there are also ten years old children. It does always remain a statement of things as they are. We always come down to this idea. Nevertheless, human beings cannot refrain from putting a frame, from putting decorations on it. It is true that if one only sticks to its words, Buddha's teaching is not that "attractive", because it is a scientific, technical account, of the world just as it is. So obviously, it does miss a lot of aesthetics. Thus, one couldn't avoid adding a little to it. It is advisable to wisely discriminate between things. It is necessary to avoid sticking too much to these popular, grandiose aspects of monuments, frescoes, Buddha statues. One day or the other, we should ultimately succeed in freeing ourselves from all this so as to reach the essence of the teaching. This process does apply to everything: what does really matter, that is the main point. For example, a big university adorned with magnificent monuments and a beautiful architecture, it is beautiful, it is pleasant. However, if you enter the university, you do not lose a track that it is meant for studying a very specific subject. When you are fully immersed into the study of your subject, you do not give a damn at all about the external environment, the architecture, and the beauty of the fountains and the parks. The same thing exactly applies to Buddha's teaching; it is necessary, at the right time, to know how to forget all that!