The Golden Buddha
Once upon a time in the 1950’s a group of monks from a monastery had to relocate a Buddha statue made of clay from their temple to a new location. The entire monastery was being relocated because a highway was being constructed through that very location in the middle of Bangkok.
When the construction crane began to lift the great 10 ½ foot clay statue, the weight of it was so tremendous that it began to crack… and then it began to rain. The head monk, who was concerned about damaging the sacred Buddha, decided to lower the statue back to the ground and covered it with a large canvas tarp to protect it from the rain while the monks and construction crew re-evaluated the most appropriate manner in which to move the treasured statue.
But the head monk had difficulties sleeping that night and went to check on the condition of the Buddha. He shined his flashlight under the tarp to see if the Buddha statue was managing to stay dry. The monk noticed a beam of light shining back at him from the statue. Thinking that this was a little odd, he began to wonder if there was something perhaps under the clay coating of the statue.
He went to the monastery to find a hammer and chisel and began to chip away at the clay statue from where the light beam was emerging. As he knocked off shards of clay, the beam of light grew brighter and brighter. The monk labored on the statue for hours and hours when he finally came face-to-face with an extraordinary solid golden Buddha! Historians believe that in the past during one of the invasions of Siam (ancient name for Thailand) by the Burmese. The Buddhist monks realized that an impending attack was very
inevitable. To protect the sanctity and looting of their monastery and their precious treasure, the Golden Buddha, they coated the statue with 8-12 inches of clay. When the invaders arrived, unfortunately, all the Siamese monks were slaughtered and so the secret was well kept for centuries.
Today the Buddha Statue is enshrined at the modest 30’x30’ Temple of the Golden Buddha.
In a way we are all very similar to the Clay Buddha, covered with a layer of physical-mental dust and yet within each of us is a hidden treasure, a golden essence. As our higher Self looks beneath the ‘tarp covering’ and sees our own Inner Light shining brightly, we each grab our hammers and chisels to begin anew, chiseling away the shards of clay so that we may again shine brightly.
Adapted from a true story written by Jack Canfield
Train your senses to be obedient.
Regulate activities to lead you to the Goal.
Hold the reins of your mind
As you hold the reins of wild horses.
~Svetasvatara Upanishad
The practice of Asana means
Refining our connection to the Earth
And all created Beings
To explore the reflection of the Divine
Which resides in all.
~Unknown