One of my favorite spiritual teachers, Julie Santiago, often shares the Story of the Golden Buddha. The story reminds us all that there is gold within, and that we just need to crack open. I hope that it inspires you as much as it inspired me:
In 1957, a massive clay Buddha was being moved from one temple in Thailand to another.
It is believed to have been built between the 13th and 15th centuries. No one seemed to care much for this plain ten-foot-high statue. It was honored, of course, but it was seemingly like any other statue you may find of the Buddha.
heavy rain fell the night before this Buddha was to be moved to its new home, soaking the statue. Then, as a crew worked to lift it, the Buddha slipped from the crane and dropped into the mud.
he statue’s fall had cracked the clay covering Buddha, revealing a shining gold light peeking out.
he monks and workers discovered that this Buddha wasn’t made from clay at all. For centuries, layers upon layers of clay and stucco had been protecting what lay beneath—a solid gold ten-foot-high Buddha.
his beautiful golden statue stayed hidden for over five hundred years.
he Buddha had been overlooked, discarded, and ignored. They assumed it was clay because clay was all they could see. But the clay was merely a veil, an outer layer protecting the true nature of this priceless Buddha.
o one knows the real reason for disguising the Golden Buddha. Historians believe that the statue was covered up just before the invasion of the Burmese in the mid-18th century. Over time the truth about the golden Buddha was forgotten—until a single crack revealed what was hiding underneath all along.
want you to imagine, just for a moment, that you are like this statue and there is a pure, golden Essence inside of you.