Finding our Golden Buddha

Summary:

• Golden Buddha – Built in 1,403, where it was revered for over 300 hundred years at a Buddhist monastery in Thailand. 9’8″ tall – 5.5 tons – worth 250 million in gold.
• 1,757 Invading Burmese Army was about to take over the monastery
• Monks who were all later murdered, quickly covered the Golden Buddha in muddy clay and broken pieces of glass to make it look unvaluable.
• 1957 Temple was being relocated and it was rediscovered.

In Bangkok there is a golden statue of the Buddha that is 9’8” tall, weighs 5.5 tons and is worth approximatively 250 million in its gold.

The statue was thought to be built in 1,403 and was revered by Buddhist for many hundreds of years. In 1,757 the Burmese Army was invading Thailand. Facing complete annihilation, the Buddhist monks at the monastery hastily began covering their Golden Buddha with plaster which was painted and inlaid with bits of colored glass, to make it look of little or no value to the invading army. During the invasion all the Buddhist monks were tragically murdered, but the Golden Buddha was left undiscovered.

In 1957 an entire Monastery in Thailand was being relocated by a group of monks. One day they were moving a giant clay Buddha when one of the monks noticed a large crack in the clay. On closer investigation he saw there was a golden light emanating from the crack. The monk used a hammer and a chisel to chip away at the clay exterior until he revealed that the statue was in fact made of solid gold.

In yoga we come to the mat and often ask ourselves… “Who are we really, why am I here and where am I going?”

What this story so eloquently explains is that inside each of us, there lives a golden Buddha of light. Our purpose in life is to rediscover our Buddha for ourselves.

What happens over the course of our life is that we pile layer upon layer of clay over our own Golden Buddha. The heaviest layer of clay is of our own doing – it’s our own limited thinking, false truths and our unconscious conditioning. The other layers of clay get added on from external influences (parents, schools and teachers, bosses and co-workers, society, the media, the church, government and corporations). Eventually we are so laden with clay that we forget that the Golden Buddha is there all the time.

The secret to finding our Golden Buddha, our higher purpose, lies not in the future, but in our past. All we need to do is start chipping away at the clay and rediscovering those things we were passionate about as we grew up. We reconnect with why the things that first brought joy into our lives. We recall the times when we were “in the flow” and time stood still. We chip away at our clay class on the yoga mat and as we get close that golden light from within us will once again emerge. Imagine a world where every person and every company could return to their natural state, their Golden Buddha. Just imagine.

“Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness.” – Susan Gale

“Water due to it density is very heavy, 1 gallon of water is 8.33 pounds. But when you hold a ball filled with air under water, the positive buoyancy inside the ball propels it upward, overcoming the pressure. As long as we keep positive energy inside of us we can rise up and overcome any obstacle that tries to hold us down.” – David Scott

“Softening your attitude opens your heart.”

When you are evolving to your higher self, the road is long and lonesome, but you’re simply shedding energies that no longer match the frequency of your destiny. The hardest walk is walking alone, but it’s also the walk that makes you the strongest.”

“A meaningful silence is always better than meaningless words.”

ACCEPTANCE: Buddhism teaches us the principle of acceptance, which is about acknowledging and embracing the reality of our lives as they are. It encourages us to accept the things we cannot control, such as the impermanence of life, the inevitability of aging, and the presence of suffering. This acceptance is not a form of resignation or defeat, but rather a profound understanding that allows us to live in harmony with the realities of life.

Acceptance does not mean that we should tolerate injustice, harm, or any form of negativity that we have the power to change. Buddhism also teaches us about the power of action and the importance of making positive changes in our lives. If there are aspects of our lives that cause harm or hinder our path to enlightenment, we are encouraged to take action to change these circumstances.

“When you find no solution to a problem, it’s probably not a problem to be solved, but rather a truth to be accepted.”

“Yoga is a light, which once lit will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter your flame.” — B.K.S. Iyengar

“The nature of yoga is to shine the light of awareness into the darkest corners of the body.” – Jason Crandell

“With no desire for success, no anxiety about failure, indifferent to results, he burns up his actions in the fire of wisdom. Surrendering all thoughts of outcome, unperturbed, self-reliant, he does nothing at all, even when fully engaged in actions. There’s nothing that he expects, nothing that he fears. Serene, free from possessions, untainted, acting with the body alone.” The Gita

“People know your name, not your story. They’ve heard what you’ve done, but not what you’ve been through. So take their opinions of you with a grain of salt. In the end, it’s not what others think, it’s what you think about yourself that counts. Sometimes you have to do exactly what’s best for you and your life, not what’s best for everyone else.”

“Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.” – R.J. Palacio, Wonder

Character is not a virtue we are not born with. Character does not develop in the protected safety of the womb of the uterus, or a cocoon. Character is forged by the fire of challenges we face in life and overcome. Our birth was our first great transformation. The battle scars of character, like our belly button, our first scar of the birth process, should be honored, for they made us who we are.” – David Scott

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” William Blake

“Sometimes the dreams that come true are the dreams you never thought you had.”

“Don’t carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones to rise above them.”

“Nothing glows brighter than the heart awakened to the light of love that lives within it.” – Guy Finley

“Some people will not love you regardless of what you do. Other people will love you regardless of what you do. Go towards the love “

“Everyone says love hurts, but that is not true. Loneliness hurts. Rejection hurts. Losing someone hurts. Envy hurts. Everyone gets these things confused with love, but in reality love is the only thing in this world that covers up all pain and makes someone feel wonderful again. Love is the only thing in this world that does not hurt.” Liam Neeson

“Don’t move the way fear makes you move. Move the way love makes you move. Move the way joy makes you move.”- Osho

Two things everyone seeks in communications.. “Did you hear me and did what I say matter.”

“Operate from your heart and not your hurt.”

“Perhaps the biggest mistake I made in the past was that I believed love was about finding the right person. In reality, love is about becoming the right person. Don’t look for the person you want to spend your life with. Become the person you want to spend your life with.”