The contest, which started in February, celebrates and encourages acts of benevolence through the power of words, by sharing stories of compassion and kindness.
The platform, which received thousands of essay submissions, announced the winner on July 17.
The winning essay was by Simon Bell, for his entry titled “The Buddha Statue.”
“The Buddha Statue” is the story of a sculptor who wanted to create something inspirational for generations to come. Inspired by the chiming of the temple bell, he decided to create two Buddha statues out of slabs of pure white marble.
The statues would be placed at the entrance to the temple, with the sculptor’s intention that all who would visit the temple for prayer and worship would be moved by the beauty and serenity of his work, thus securing his legacy.
The sculptor then proceeded to work on his creations for many years. As his work continued, he vowed to the slabs of marble that all of the pain and suffering they bore from being chiseled and worked on would pay off in the end and that one day, the two statues would adorn the temple entrance.
The essay tells of the intense suffering the marble slabs went through, almost losing hope amidst the pain of being chipped and chiseled into form. But they held firm, showing the importance of perseverance in the face of adversity.
After many years, the sculptor’s magnificent creations were complete, but weary as he was from the painstaking effort he had put into his works, the sculptor’s hand slipped and knocked over one of the statues, causing it to crack.
Horrified, the sculptor knew that all the years of effort the statue had undergone had been ruined in an instant and that there was no way to repair the damage.
With a sorrowful heart, he explained to the broken statue that it was no longer suitable to be placed outside the temple.
However, the statue calmly and humbly replied that no matter its destiny, it would accept its lot without complaining or casting blame.
The sculptor was humbled by the statue’s forbearance, and then had an idea. He told the statue that there was still a way for it to be part of the temple, albeit devoid of any glory, praise, or recognition.
Instead of remaining as a cracked statue, he suggested that he could grind the statue down into powder to line the tiles of the temple floor. This, however, would be a further, even more painful process—and visitors to the temple would never learn of the statue’s suffering or contribution.
The statue replied that regardless of the pain it had gone through, and the pain that was yet to come, and despite the absence of renown or glory, it was happy to fulfill its purpose in the temple in whatever way it was meant to.
And so the sculptor began to split the broken statue into pieces to grind it down into powder. Yet as the statue split apart, a priceless piece of the purest jade was revealed within its heart. Its bearing the greatest suffering had revealed the most precious treasure.
The essay “The Buddha Statue” draws upon ancient Buddhist tradition, which considers life an endless sea of pain and suffering. Even in our most difficult times, however, there is hope. And even if all seems lost, if we manage to welcome our fate with grace and humility, what will be revealed will be the individual’s pure heart—as precious as the heart of jade in the story.
Gan Jing World runs several competitions each year, emphasizing positivity and traditional values with the aim of inspiring kindness and compassion around the world.
“Gan Jing” means “clean.” The platform aims to create a truly positive, vibrant digital community filled with wholesome content that is free from violent, pornographic, criminal, and harmful material, thus providing a better alternative to other digital platforms.