I love the story behind this buddha.To stop it being found and smashed by Burmese soldiers in Thailand in the 1500s the Thais encased him in a large form of clay several inches thick to hide him and so he escaped destruction. Hundreds of years later in the 1950s, as he was being moved by a crane, he was dropped accidentally and it smashed open to reveal a small, pefectly pure golden Buddha inside. This story was a text I often used in a reading class and so, when we were there, I insisted on dragging Lucy to find this temple so I could see him. He was an effort to find too and, as always in Bangkok, though we were determined, the marathon through the city traffic drained us of all goodwill to humanity and sapped our cultural enthusiam so we arrived on a sour note..... hot, exhausted, grumpy and with Lucy only intent on finding a Starbucks...[it's cool in there!]. He was though, worth finding, even though much smaller than we expected.
Just as he was hidden in all the clay, I always like to think there is a good heart in everybody. I'm sure I might have been called naive for thinking this in some situations but so far it's worked for me. It's hard to find the golden buddha inside some people....... but I like the challenge.
oh yes i remember him!
Posted by: lucy astill | Jan 23, 2009 at 08:16 AM
You are so smart. That's how I feel. If ever I'm really unable to like someone I try to remember how his/her mother sees him. Helps every time. So glad all the layers have been left behind and you are at your gold stage. Hope you're feeling well. See you for tea soon...
Patricia
Posted by: Patricia | Jan 23, 2009 at 10:15 PM