All Seeing only one heart. Most important thing you will not see his eyes.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
In autumn 1988 my wife Georgia was invited to speak at a conference on the theme of self-esteem, held in Hong Kong. Since we've never been to the Far East, we decided to extend our trip and visit Thailand.
When we arrived in Bangkok, we decided to examine the most famous Buddhist temples in the city. On that day, along with an interpreter and driver we toured with George so many Buddhist temples, that they all become to us like one another.
However found one temple that left an indelible mark in our hearts and memory. The temple was small, perhaps no more than thirty to thirty feet. But when we entered it, we froze, seeing the Buddha made of pure gold, the height of ten and a half feet. He weighed about two and a half tons and cost about one hundred ninety-six million dollars! The sight was breathtaking - we gently smiling majestic Buddha made of pure gold.
While we saw the statue and, moaning and groaning, to take pictures, I went to the glass window, behind which lay a large piece of clay about eight inches thick and twelve inches wide. Near the window of hanging a sheet describing the history of the magnificent statue.
In 1957 a group of monks from the vicinity of the monastery was to move the clay Buddha from his temple to a new location. The monastery moved to make way for the construction of the highway through Bangkok. When the crane began to lift the giant idol, his weight was so great that he began to crack. On top of all the rain. The senior monk, who was responsible for the safety of the Buddha, decided to lower the statue back to the ground and covered her with a large piece of tarpaulin to protect from the rain.
Later a senior monk had gone to Buddha. He shined a flashlight under the tarp to make sure that the statue is dry. When the light torch reached the cracks, the monk noticed that the gap glittering, and it seemed strange to him. When he looked closer, I thought that under a layer of clay that something is. He went for a chisel and hammer in the monastery, he returned and began to split off the clay bit by bit. As soon as he get off the clay, the glow grew brighter. It took many hours of work before the monk was face to face with the Buddha, made of pure gold.
Historians believe that several hundred years ago the Burmese army is bent on invading Thailand, which was then called Siam. The Siamese monks, realizing that their country will soon be attacked, covered with a precious golden Buddha with a layer of clay to keep the treasure from theft. Unfortunately, it turned out that the Burmese have killed all the Siamese monks, and carefully concealed secret of the golden Buddha remained enigmatic until the fateful day in 1957.
When we returned home the Chinese Pacific Airlines flight, I thought that we all like the clay Buddha covered with a hard shell, created out of fear, and under it in each of us - "the golden Buddha," "golden Christ 'or our' golden essence, our natural me. Just as the monk with a hammer and chisel, we must re-discover our true essence.
Jack Canfield
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