1. “At the moment of his awakening at the foot of the bodhi tree, the
Buddha declared, “How strange—all beings possess the capacity to be
awakened, to understand, to love, to be free—yet they allow themselves
to be carried away on the ocean of suffering.” He saw that day and
night, we’re seeking what is already there within us. We can call it
Buddha-nature, awakened nature, the true freedom that is the foundation
for all peace and happiness. The capacity to be enlightened isn’t
something that someone else can offer to you. A teacher can only help
you to remove the non-enlightened elements in you so that enlightenment
can be revealed. If you have confidence that beauty, goodness, and the
true teacher are in you, and if you take refuge in them, you will
practice in a way that reveals these qualities more clearly each day.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
2. The Most Famous Buddha in Thailand
In the early 1930s, there was an abandoned temple in Bangkok,
Thailand, that housed a statue of the Buddha which stood nearly 10
feet tall. Reconstruction in Chinatown meant the temple would be
destroyed. The statue was not the most attractive, but was a sacred
object none the less. It would be moved to a nearby pagoda. The new
site didn’t have a building large enough to house the statue. The
statue remained under a simple tin roof for twenty years.
In 1955 a new building was constructed, where the statue would be
housed. The move required a large crane. The crane hoisted the statue
and began to move it. One of the hoisting ropes broke, and the statue
fell to the ground. Some say that the workers ran away believing the
fall a bad omen. As if to confirm the bad omen, a terrible storm soon
descended. It rained all night, and flooded the city.
At dawn the next day, the abbot of the temple came to evaluate the
damage. Even before cleaning off any of the mud, he could see that
the statue had cracked in the fall. Peering beneath a piece of the
painted stucco, what he discovered no doubt shocked him. When all the
clay was removed, what remained was the largest solid gold statue of
the Buddha in the land.
This gold statue of Buddha had been cast the 13th century. Several
hundred years later an invasion by the Burmese army was imminent. In order
to keep their treasure from being stolen, the monks covered the statue
with stucco, painted it and used glass to create an inlay. The Burmese
conquered the land. The monks were most likely all killed. The gold
remained covered and forgotten for almost 200 years.
To this day the Gold Buddha remains at the Wat Traimit Temple in Bangkok Thailand. And it is glorious!
Phillip: One reason I love this story is that is filled with synchronicity and symbolism. It has been said that the Buddha’s enlightenment awakened him to the goodness that is inside each of us. This story is an allegory for us. Life piles clay on top of us, and we forget the preciousness at the core of our being.
#479 by Denise Levertov
An awe so quiet I don’t know when it began A gratitude had begun to sing
in me.
Was there some moment dividing song from no song?
When does dewfall begin?
When does night hold its arms over our hearts to cherish them?
When is day break?
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