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Your True Nature is Pure Gold

I read this Buddhist story about our true nature being like pure gold that I’d like to share.

Imagine that I have a gold nugget in my right hand and I have one of the same size, weight, and purity in my left hand. The only difference is that the one in my left is covered with clumps of dirt. Which is worth more? Well, they are worth the same, of course. One might look more precious, but they both have the exact same value.

In the same manner, our true nature is like pure gold. However, conditioned thought patterns shaped by both biology and our learning experiences, can, in effect, obscure our true nature. On the outside, we can exhibit behaviors and emotions such as hatred, spitefulness, jealousy, anger, cruelty, and so on. This is the dirt…the mud and grime that obscures our true nature and who we really are.
But we can learn to wash off the dirt…to uncover our virtues such as compassion, generosity, kindness, and love…that are within all of us. Then our true nature, which is pure gold, can shine forth.

Now, one might argue, as many have, that our true nature is one of hatred, cruelty, aggression, and so on…just look at all the atrocities we have committed over the millennia! Is our true nature as black as soot…and far from being pure gold? That is a legitimate question, and I will provide an alternative view to it in my next post.

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