The Storm that Brought a Gift

The Storm That Brought a Gift

There are two kinds of weather in Thailand: wet and dry. From April to October it rains every day. Almost six hundred years ago, there was a terrible storm in a city called Chiang Mai. It happened in 1434. Even though there was a strong wind, loud thunder, and deep puddles of rain, the people of Chiang Mai were not afraid. They were used to storms. Outside the city was a small temple. There was a monk who lived at this temple and took care of the statues of Buddha.

Whenever storms came, the monk would protect the incense so it didn’t get wet. He wanted the incense to burn for Buddha. After cleaning the temple, the monk stood in the doorway to watch the storm. The lightning stretched its fingers across the sky. The storm was coming closer to the temple. Just then, the monk saw a flash and heard a large crack! The lightning struck a chedi outside the temple and broke it.

A chedi is a bell-shaped pagoda. The first chedis contained the ashes of the Buddha and all chedis are sacred to his memory. The monk ran out into the rain. He wanted to protect the memory of Buddha preserved in the broken chedi. The monk found an object on the ground, among the stone pieces from the broken chedi. He wrapped the object in his robes and carried it into the temple.

He lit a candle to see what it was. It looked like a statue of Buddha made out of rock. Because the statue was small, and it did not look valuable, the monk put the statue in his house. Every day he would clean this statue of Buddha and pray to it. The monk took care of the statue for many years. But one day, when he was cleaning the statue, the nose fell off. “ Oh no! ” the monk cried. Then he looked again. There was another nose underneath, and it was green!

The monk carefully began to pull away the rock. Underneath was a second Buddha made of jade. The green was such a beautiful green that he named the statue The Emerald Buddha. The monk sent a letter to the king, telling him the story of the Emerald Buddha. King Samfangkaen was excited. He asked for the statue to be sent to his palace in Chiang Mai. The monk was sad to see the Emerald Buddha go.