Who Are You?

adapted from Henry Grayson, Mindful Loving

To the question of your life you are the answer,
and to the problems of your life,
you are the solution.

Joe Cordare 

Once upon a time, a large clay Buddha sat outside a tiny temple in Thailand under a tin roof. A new road was coming through, and the monks were asked to move it. When they finally managed to lift it, however, a crack appeared, so it was quickly set back down. Then it began to rain. A tarp was thrown over the ancient statue as a storm moved in.

That night, one of the monks decided to check on the Buddha. He went outside and lifted the tarp to see if the statue was staying dry. As the light from his lamp reached the crack, he noticed a small, bright gleam shining back at him. He set down the lamp and began to scratch away at the clay with his fingernail. He found more of the light 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 through the night. By morning, he stood before a Buddha made of solid gold.

This is a true story. It happened in Bangkok in 1955. The Buddha of Wat Traimit is nine feet tall. It weighs over five tons. The largest golden statue in the world, it is valued at two hundred and fifty million dollars.

The Golden Buddha is believed to be 900 years old. The clay was eight to twelve 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 Buddha kept its secret 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