An audacious attempt by a humble monk, you could say a death defying attempt. A buddhist monk, as if owning part of life.
In modern world, ISIS/Taliban have more impact, They are able own more corpses , with which they make an argument for love of death.
Taliban figured, idolatry of Bamiyan Buddha was unnecessary in their vision of death of others. I would never imagine, to what depth the monks of Bamiyan looked when they saw the Buddha.