Years ago, I read a brief article called “The Story of the Golden Buddha”. While reading, I noticed a beautiful analogy within that speaks to many of our lives today.
Over three hundred years ago, the Burmese army planned an attack to invade Siam. The most amazing Buddha statue of the time was in the possession of the Siamese monks. This statue is over 10 feet tall and weighs over 2 1/2 tons. Today, the statue, made of solid gold, is valued at $200 million dollars. The monks were determined to protect this beautiful shrine that meant so much to them. While it was priceless to them for reasons that transcend money; they knew the Burmese would stop at nothing to steal the statue because of its tremendous monetary value. They covered the Golden Buddha with 12 inches of clay, knowing that the warriors would totally ignore it and think it worthless. Sadly, the invasion resulted in the slaughter of the monks and the concealment of the secret of the Golden Buddha for two centuries. The Buddha itself, though, remained safe.
In the mid 50s, this former monastery was to be moved to make room for a new highway. The monks arranged for a crane to come and move the “Clay” Buddha to its new location. When the crane lifted the statue, it was much heavier than expected and it began to crack. Wanting to protect the priceless shrine, the monks lowered it back down and waited until the next day to bring more powerful equipment. To add insult to injury, the rains came, so the monks lovingly covered the statue with tarps to keep the moisture away. The head monk went out in the dark of night with his flashlight to make sure that the Buddha was adequately covered. When the light of the flashlight 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, and all the clay removed…he was in the presence of a Buddha made of solid gold. The statue is now in The Temple of the Golden Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand. Every year, millions of people go there to see this magnificent work of art and to worship at his feet. And to think, if the setback with the first crane had not occurred, they may have never uncovered it.