I’ve seen an article or tv documentary on it somewhere. There’s an archeologist who thinks he may have located it, buried many years ago by worshipers who may have wanted to protect it from that era’s Muslims.
He thinks it appears today as a ridge line in the landscape. You might find it with a google search on buried reclining Bhudda.
My first attempt to find it yielded squat. Here something:
Archaeologists Find Giant ‘Sleeping’ Buddha In Afghanistan
By Ron Synovitz
September 09, 2008
http://www.rferl.org/content/Archeologists_Find_Giant_Sleeping_Buddha_In_Afghanistan_/1197572.html
[snip] More than seven years after the Taliban destroyed the two giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan, an Afghan-led archaeological team has uncovered the remains of a third giant Buddha nearby. The remains of the 19-meter-long reclining Buddha statue were discovered this summer within the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple less than 2 kilometers from the niches where Bamiyan’s two giant Buddha statues once stood. The chief archaeologist, professor Zemaryali Tarzi, has spent years searching there for a 300-meter-long sleeping Buddha described in the journal of Xuanzang, a Chinese pilgrim who traveled to central Afghanistan around 630 A.D. [/snip]
Search for the Third Buddha of Bamiyan
By Shelly Barclay
May 12, 2012
http://www.historicmysteries.com/search-for-the-third-buddha-of-bamiyan/
[snip] The idea of a third Buddha of Bamiyan is not a modern one. In about 630 CE, Xuanzang of China visited Bamiyan and wrote of both Buddhas, describing them as we know them and saying they were adorned with gold and gems. He also described a third Buddha, which was a reclining Buddha. This third Buddha, were it standing, would have reportedly stood somewhere around 1,000 feet. The reclining Buddha uncovered in Bamiyan Valley in 2008 was a mere 62 feet in length. Xuanzang could have grossly exaggerated the dimensions of the third Buddha. However, it seems odd that he would bother, given the dimensions of the known the Buddhas. It also seems odd that he would recollect a 62-foot Buddha as 4 times larger than one that is nearly 200-feet tall! [/snip]