FACULTY VOICE
The Gold Within By the Rev. Whitney Edwards In 1765 the Burmese army invaded the nation of Siam, a strategically important slip of land. Centuries later, Burma would be renamed Myanmar and Siam Thailand. The invaders sacked cities and committed such terrible atrocities that there is still a strain in relations between Myanmar and Thailand all these years later. Gracefully, in that invasion and war, not all of the ancient Siamese culture was lost or destroyed, including some monasteries and beloved Buddhist relics, statues and scrolls, which dated as far back as the origins of the deeply loved religion in that region. One thing that survived was an enormous Buddha statue in the Ayutthaya monastery. It was covered in stucco, which is essentially mud and colored glass. Almost 10 feet tall and weighing 5.5 tons, it was considered holy, if not altogether attractive. And that is probably why it was not broken or stolen. The subsequent story of the mud Buddha unfolds for 200 years. Through more occupations and wars, it was left alone and moved here and there, eventually ending up sitting outside a pagoda with a tin roof barely keeping the monsoon rains off.
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In 1955, Buddhist monks decided to move the mammoth Buddha to Bangkok. As the ropes lifted the Buddha for transport, they broke, and the Buddha fell to the ground, splintering with cracks in it. It was a shocking moment, not only because this holy relic was broken, but because of what emerged. Beneath the broken pieces of mud shone gold. The monks carefully picked at the remaining mud, and it turned out the mud Buddha of Ayutthaya was anything but. It was actually 5-plus tons of pure, solid 18-carat gold. It dated from the 1200s and was worth hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. As best as anyone can figure out, it seems the Buddhist monks in the 1760s had known they couldn’t possibly move their statue ahead of the brutal Burmese invasion. So they quickly covered it over with mud and glass pieces and hid it in plain sight. I love that story, and who wouldn’t love a true story about plucky monks who outsmart an entire army? But also, I love it because its truth resonates. Imagine how many people looked at the golden Buddha over those 200 years it was coated in mud and had no idea what they were actually looking at. I know I am liable to do the same, and not just with statues. But with people, too.
“Oh Lord, you know us, for you made us. And everything you make is good. Very good. Help us to see that goodness within ourselves. Help us to see it in others and treat them accordingly. As the psalmist writes, ‘We praise you, for we are fearfully and wonderfully made.’” AMEN