What do the Golden Buddha, the Camino and the Master Key Experience have in common? Buddha, Santiago (St James) and Charles Haanel walk into a bar…

Well, maybe not a bar joke; but picture, if you will, these three figures having a conversation.

The Conversation

Buddha: did you hear the one about the statue of me covered with cement?

Charles: Sounds familiar but tell it again.

Buddha: Many years ago, in Thailand, there was a temple that was called the Temple of the Golden Buddha. There was a huge statue of a golden buddha.

Word came to this village where the monastery was, that a neighbouring country was about to invade. The monks got the brilliant scheme to cover the golden buddha with mud and concrete so it would look like a stone statue and the invading army would perceive no value and would leave it alone.

Sure enough, the army rolled in with its weapons and when they passed by the monastery, they saw nothing but this big stone buddha and they had no reason to plunder it.

Many years passed until there was a time when no one in the monastery or the village remembered that the buddha was golden. Until one day, a young monk was sitting on the statue, meditating, and a piece of concrete happened to crack off.

He saw something shiny and realized there was gold shining through. He ran back to the monastery and told the other monks. They got out their picks and hammers and eventually they unearthed the golden buddha.

Santiago: Great story, Buddha. What does it mean?

How to recognize a Golden Buddha

Buddha: The metaphor is that each of us is golden by nature. We are born golden, born connected to our bliss, born knowing our value. We are born knowing truth.

Then we go to school and we are told how to think and what to think. So we develop a casing of stone over our gold, until we believe that we were the stone buddha rather than the golden buddha.

Then something comes along that knocks off a piece of our casing, maybe a trauma or injury or setback, and we see our gold. The moment that we see the gold, the stone will never satisfy us again.

All we want to do is pick away at the stone and uncover more and more of our gold. We find that there is greatness in us, as there is in everyone, and we enter the true Hero’s Adventure.

The gold is so much more fun than the stone. (This is from an excerpt of the movie ‘Finding Joe’)

Santiago: I first walked with Jesus, being a fisher of men. He certainly let his golden buddha shine. Then, after his death, I went to Spain, to spread the word about the teachings of Jesus. Not very many people wanted to listen.

I was feeling a bit like your cement statue myself. Frustrated and tired. Even when I left Spain, I didn’t feel like I had made much of a difference.

Charles: I understand your feelings, Santiago, but look at Spain and the Camino de Santiago now. People are flocking in pilgrimage to your namesake city, Santiago de Compostela. As they walk, their cement is being chipped off.

Santiago: Yes, I am happy to see that. It does not matter whether they do it for religious or other reasons. I can see that it is the walking, the people they meet, the self-reflection and self-mastery that is chipping off their stone. As they progress along the Way, they learn their own abilities and strengths.

Charles: And walking the Camino is a true Hero’s Journey story too. The pilgrims journey into the unknown, overcome many challenges, learn to give and accept help as they go, then eventually return home, changed forever.

Santiago: I agree, Charles. And, as I like to say, The Journey is the Reward, or El Camino es la Meta.

Buddha: Charles, I want to congratulate you for your work in helping people chip off their cement through the study of your Master Key System. It’s another way for folks to live the Hero’s Journey.

Charles: Thanks Buddha, I appreciate that. I like that anyone can take my book and learn the principles to change their thoughts, which of course changes their life.

Santiago: Right, I remember reading your book. Thought is cause and conditions are results. The world within creates the world without, right?

Charles: Yes, that is the short version. Of course, there is a lot more to it. I included 24 lessons and recommend that folks take their time and study one lesson per week. Even better to study it in a Master Mind group, like the one that Mark J set up called the Master Key Experience.

Buddha: Sure, that’s a great way to learn about the Golden Buddha story too.

Santiago: Isn’t it great that we may seem to come from three different backgrounds and still carry the same message? The world needs more people to hear this message and become self-directed thinkers.

Buddha: So true James. Now, let’s go try some of that Spanish food you are always bragging about.

Charles: You bet, I’m in for some tapas.

My Experience with the Golden Buddha

I guess I have been feeling a bit silly as I wrote this. I hope you enjoyed this imaginary conversation between Buddha, St James (Santiago) and Charles Haanel. I do believe that when I walked the Camino, my cement started to chip away.

Then I joined the Master Key Experience, learned the story of the Golden Buddha and studied the Master Key System. Now more and more of the gold shows through, because I am letting it shine. You can too!

If you want to learn more, check out the Master Key Experience, and get on the list for the next class. It only costs one dollar to try it out.