on the usefulness of wooden Buddhas
Posted by: C.C. Saint-clair in spiritual philosophy, tags: acceptance of what is, C.C. Saint-Clair, ego, energy healing, holistic living, karma, meaning of life, objects of worship, present.moment, reincarnation, souls, spiritual philosophy, spirituality, unconditional loveHere is a nice tale related to wooden statues of Buddha.
It’s about a Zen master who arrived, one stormy night, to a deserted temple.
The rain had been coming down heavily all day long and it was very cold as well.
The Zen master walked up to a wooden statue of the Buddha, paced in front of it for a few seconds. Then, he suddenly hefted it in a great bear hug and rolled it into the fire.
While warming his hand by the flames, he grinned: “Finally some concrete usefulness has come out of you!”
Great teachers have always known that objects, even objects of worship, are purely symbolic and have no spiritual value in their own right.
So bottom line: if you really must buy yourself a Buddha, do pick a wooden one. It might prove more useful than a cement or clay statue.
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