A MOST REMARKABLE STORY!
In the mid-50s, a monastery was to be relocated to make room for a new highway. The monks arranged for a crane to come and move a 10-foot-tall clay Buddha to its new location. When the crane started to lift the statue, it was much heavier than expected and it began to crack. Wanting to protect the Clay Buddha, the monks lowered it back down and decided to wait until the next day to bring more powerful equipment. It began to rain, so the monks lovingly covered the statue with tarps to keep the moisture away.
That night, the head monk took his torch and went out to make sure the Buddha was adequately covered. When the light of the torch shone into the crack of the clay, he saw a glimmer… a reflection of something underneath that shroud of clay. He immediately started to carefully chisel away shards of clay to find that the glimmer grew brighter.
Hours later, when all the clay had been removed… he found himself in the presence of a Buddha made of solid gold!
A solid gold Buddha, three metres high and weighing five and a half tons.
The story behind this “Clay Buddha” is that over three hundred years ago, the Burmese were constantly attacking Thailand. At the time, the country was known as Siam. The Siamese monks were in possession of the most amazing Buddha statue. The monks were determined to protect the shrine that meant so much to them. They knew that the Burmese would stop at nothing to steal the statue because of its tremendous monetary value.
So the monks covered the Golden Buddha with 12 inches of clay knowing that the warriors would totally ignore it and think it worthless.
It was true the invaders did ignore the “Clay Buddha” but sadly, the monks were totally wiped out, slaughtered, in the invasion and the secret of the Golden Buddha stayed hidden for two centuries. The Buddha itself, though, remained safe but there was no-one left who knew the secret of the Buddha statue.
Although a most remarkable story, the symbology to our lives is powerful.
What happens over the course of our lives is that our Golden Buddha gets covered under layer upon layer of clay.
The heaviest layer of clay is of our own doing. It’s our own limiting self-beliefs that prevent us from following our dreams and fulfilling our potential.The other layers of clay are added by external conditioning from parents, schools and teachers, bosses and co-workers, society, the media, the church, government and corporations.
BUT there is gold beneath all the layers, we have just forgotten, like the Monks. In a world where there is so much negativity, stress, and worry, we become lost in ourselves and the chaos around us. We forget to look inside, to remember the gold that shines within.
It is important to remember this.Meditation helps us remember, remember to
Chisel! Chisel the clay away!
ANAND NIGAM’S NEXT ROUND OF TUESDAY EVENING ZOOM CLASSES
BUDDHA HIS LIFE AND TEACHINGS – INSPIRATIONS FOR
TUESDAY WEEKLY MEDITATION ZOOM CLASSES WITH ANAND NIGAM
February 18th to May 27th, 2025
https://www.stillnessinyoga.com/event/tuesday-weekly-meditation-zoom-classes-with-anand-nigam/
