Many years ago there was Buddhist temple in Thailand that was being invaded by a neighboring country. The monks feared the statue of the Golden Buddha would be pillaged, and so they covered it with mud and mortar to hide the true value of the statue. The deception worked, but the monks were massacred, and the invading army occupied the village and temple without realizing the nature of the statue that was hiding in plain sight.
Knowledge of the Golden Buddha quickly faded away as the years passed by. Eventually the foreign army left the village and a new round of monks returned to the temple to reignite their sangha (monastic community). One day a young monk was meditating at the base of the muddy and relatively uninteresting statue when a piece of gold fell through a crack in the statue. Curious he ran to get the other monks and after chiseling away for some time they unearthed the forgotten Golden Buddha.
The metaphor of the Golden Buddha is that our enlightenment or ascension towards Christ Consciousness is possible in any moment. We are all Golden Buddhas, the potential is always there. That includes the people you don’t like, believe things you don’t believe, or that live the “wrong” way with the wrong ideas, politics (yes even Democrats, Republicans, and whatever else you want to label), opinions, and attitudes you have.
The young Prince Siddhartha Gautama chose to embark on a spiritual journey after living a life of extreme pleasure and later abandoning his young family. Eventually he found enlightenment after an arduous journey and much suffering. He developed his own path which he shared through the eightfold path, and this is a fundamental concept. When a student learns great wisdom, they desire to share and teach it. When Gautama attained enlightment and Buddha nature he chose to teach others how to attaing it. He did not ask that you believe him through his words but to apply them in your own experience in the present moment of daily life.
Jesus Christ arrived as a very special gift to mankind. He too traveled and shared his wisdom and teaching to others. He loved everyone whether they loved him or not. He even forgave those who crucified him. His love for those that desired to kill him outweighed their fear of losing power and doubt. Forgiveness is strength, and maybe even the highest form of love, which for some reason some people confuse as weakness.
In my blog about clearing karma, I mentioned that one method is to see the love and the divinity in all others. We all have lessons to learn in life, and we are all on our own unique spiritual path. If we all treated others like we desired to be treated… ah the Golden Rule. As psychologist and spiritual teacher Ram Dass famously stated… “We’re all just walking each other home.” We are all Golden Buddhas dancing on this planet and capable of loving like Jesus if we get out of our own way and let go of fear, negative thinking, and judgment. We can operate from a foundation of either fear or love, we get to choose. Choose wisely.