sharing the journey of Relationship, Embodiment, and Awakened Living
sharing the journey of Relationship, Embodiment, and Awakened Living
adapted from Henry Grayson, Mindful Loving
Like a full force gale
I was lifted up again
Van Morrison, "Full Force Gail"
Once a group of monks from a monastery were asked to relocate a large clay Buddha in order to make room for a new highway. When a crane began to lift the statue, a crack appeared in it so it was immediately set back down. To make matters worse, it began to rain. The statue was covered with a large tarp as a storm moved in.
That night, one of the monks decided to check on the statue. He shined his flashlight under the tarp to see if the Buddha was staying dry. As the light reached the crack, he noticed a small, bright gleam. He began to scratch away at the clay with his fingernail and found more of the shine reflecting back. Picking up a stick, he scraped away more of the clay, then ran back into the monastery. He returned with a hammer and chisel and began chipping away. He worked throughout the night and by morning uncovered a solid-gold Buddha.
This is a true story. It happened in Bangkok in 1955. The statue is three meters tall and weighs over five tons. It is the largest solid gold statue in the world and is valued at two hundred million dollars. It is believed to be 900 years old. The clay was about 8 inches thick. Historians theorize that when the Burmese army was about to invade Thailand (then called Siam), the monks covered the Buddha with clay in order to keep it from being looted. When the soldiers arrived, they left the clay Buddha but slaughtered all the monks. And so the secret was kept intact for over two hundred years.
What are you made of?
One's own self is well hidden from one's own self; of all mines of treasure, one's own is the last to be dug up.
Nietzsche