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Shwetabh Shekhar
Shwetabh Shekhar

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Clean Off Your Dirt

Here's a short true story.

In the temple of Wat Traimit, Bangkok, Thailand there's a statue of Buddha, solid gold, 10.5 ft high, weighs around 5.5 tons. They used to think it was made of clay. The monastery used to be somewhere else and in 1957 they had to relocate it because of a highway development through Bangkok.

When the crane came to lift it, the idol was so heavy that it began to crack so they put it back down, covered it in a tarpaulin so it wouldn't get wet, and decided to try again the next day.

During the night the abbot came out to look at it, check it wasn't getting wet or damaged. He noticed something gleaming behind the crack and decided to take a closer look. They started to chip the clay away and ended up with a 10.5 ft high solid gold Buddha.

Turns out that hundreds of years before Thailand (Siam as was) was invaded by Burma and the monks of that time covered the Buddha in clay so it wasn't looted. They were all killed by the Burmese along with many others. No-one who knew the secret was left so the golden reality remained intact but hidden. It was finally rediscovered hundreds of years later.

Why tell this story here, now?

Because hidden inside, smothered by the accumulated mental dirt caused by years of disappointments, failures, rejections, regrets is a precious, valuable better you. The you who has creativity, concentration, patience, resolve, purpose, and a million other virtues. All you have to do is clean off the dirt.

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