Buddha

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DISCOVER YOUR TRUE ESSENCE

 

In 1957, a group of monks in a monastery in Thailand had to

relocate a clay Buddha from their temple to a new location.

The day was rainy, and when the crane began to lift the

giant idol, the weight of it was so tremendous that it

began to crack. The head monk, concerned about damage to

the sacred Buddha, called off the move and covered the

statue with a large canvas tarp to protect it from the

rain.

 

Later that evening, he went to check on the statue, and as

he shone his flashlight under the tarp, he noticed a little

gleam shining from the crack. His curiosity piqued, he

fetched a chisel and hammer and started knocking off shards

of clay. Many hours of labor later, he stood facing a 10-

1/2 foot tall, solid-gold Buddha!

 

Historians believe that several hundred years before the

head monk's discovery, the Burmese army was about to invade

Thailand (then called Siam.) The Siamese monks covered

their precious golden Buddha with an outer covering of clay

to protect their treasure from the looting Burmese. It

appears that the Burmese slaughtered all the Siamese monks,

and the secret remained intact until the fateful day in

1957.

 

Many of us are like the clay Buddha - covered with a shell

of hardness created out of fear. Underneath is a " golden

Buddha " or a " golden essence " which is our real self.

 

Somewhere along the way, between the ages of two and nine,

we begin to cover up our " golden essence " and create an

outer surface of clay. Like the monk with the hammer and

chisel, our challenge now is to get below the surface and

discover our true essence once again.

 

Source: " Chicken Soup for the Soul " by Jack Canfield

(adapted)