Poem from the Tao
Center of Wheel
We join spokes together in a wheel,
But it is the center hole
That makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
But it is the emptiness inside
That holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
But it is the inner space
That makes it livable.
We work with being,
But non-being is what we use.
The Golden Buddha
Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a Golden Buddha. It was made of tons of pure gold and stood as tall as ten people. It sat in the lotus position in the garden of a monastery on a hilltop overlooking a peaceful valley. Pilgrims would sit in meditation at the feet of the Golden Buddha.
One day news reached the monastery that the Burmese army was on its way to invade the village. This news was very upsetting to the monks, they knew that if the army discovered the Gold Buddha, it would be destroyed. So, the monks gathered to try and save the Buddha. After considering many ideas, one monk offered a plan to disguise the Buddha. “Let us cover the Buddha with mud and stones and mortar,” he suggested. The invaders will believe it is a statue made of stone. The monks thought it was a great idea and hastily they worked through the night to complete the project.
By morning, the last pail of mortar and stone was poured over the Buddha’s head. The great Golden Buddha had become a mere cement statue. Soon they heard the pounding of footsteps and the wheels of the warring army at the town gate. The soldiers marched up the hill toward the monastery and none of the soldiers even looked twice at the stone statue. The Buddha was unrecognized by the Burmese army. Years passed and everyone in the monastery and village went about their business, and all who looked believed that it was a statue made of stone.
In 1957 in Bangkok, a huge clay statue of the Buddha began to crack due to heat and drought. When some monks arrived to investigate, they saw there was a golden light emanating from the crack. The monks used a hammer and a chisel to chip away at the clay exterior until it revealed that the statue was in fact, made of solid gold. Before long all the facade was removed, and the Golden Buddha was restored to its original splendor.
Historians believe the Buddha was covered with clay by Thai monks several hundred years earlier to protect it from an attack by the Burmese army. Although all the monks who lived in the monastery at that time had been killed in the attack, the Golden Buddha, its beauty, and value covered over, had survived untouched. It wasn’t until 1957 that this great treasure was discovered. No one had known that inside this popular but ordinary-looking statue was a solid gold Buddha. Nobody knew that the monks disguised the beauty of the Golden Buddha to protect it.
Today it sits majestically in The Temple of the Golden Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand. Once again pilgrims come to sit at the feet of the Buddha and find refuge in the same golden nature within themselves.
Reflection
There is a golden center within all of us. We add layer after layer of facades and defenses to present ourselves to others. We add layers to protect ourselves from fear, uncertainty, confusion, and the negative messages of the culture. Instead of protecting ourselves, we need to uncover the “gold” within, so we know our true nature. We live life like a clay statue of powerlessness with feelings of unworthiness and fear. The center of the Medicine Wheel symbolizes our true self, our higher self. It is also pure gold. Learning how to shed the layers gives us strength and the ability to trust intuition, contemplation, and the natural mystery all around us.
Even when we can’t see the gold, in silence we can hear its call through longing for connection. We can experience it in awe of the beauty around us. Even though we cannot see the gold, the light of our true nature can be seen in our natural desire to help others. I have lived for years with a deep intuition that there is something beyond my traditional, habitual life, there must be more. Unknowing with my head and knowing with my heart I begin to realize there is a vast mysterious and sacred world of connectedness and wisdom beyond. And we all belong.
Prompts for journaling or discussion:
1. What layers prevent you from believing in yourself?
2. How do they get in your way?
3. Do you ever have the feeling like there is something missing in your life?
4. What helps you uncover the gold within?
5. What helps you to trust?
The basic teachings of the Medicine Wheel rhyme with the basic teaching of Buddhism. They both begin with learning to recognize our true nature found within. Both call us to believe in ourselves and to meet the ever-changing events of life with Love and connectedness to all living things.
