我在东北的时候，收了一个弟子，法名果舜。他俗姓姚，一般人叫他老姚，他家住在哈尔滨南二十里大南沟屯。他在未皈依三宝之前，是一个游手好闲的浪子，不但吸鸦片，而且还打吗啡，可以说是吃喝嫖赌，无所不为。

When I was in Manchuria, I accepted a disciple and gave him the Dharma name Guo Shun. His surname was Yao, and people called him Old Yao. He lived about twenty miles south of Harbin in Da-nan-gou Village. Before he took refuge with the Triple Jewel, he was a loafer who smoked opium and shot himself up with morphine. As to eating, drinking, playing with women, and gambling, he did all of that and more.

当时日本统治东北，成立满洲国，利用清朝废帝宣统，做满洲国的皇帝，成为日本的傀儡，一切的政权操纵在日本人手中。日本为了防止苏联的侵略，于是在黑河一带建筑国防工程，到处抓劳工去服役，只有贡献，没有酬劳。凡是进到劳工营的人，只有终日忧愁，不知何年才能回到温暖的家乡。谈起劳工营的生活，就令人不寒而栗，那简直是人间地狱，苦不堪言。

Manchuria was under the rule of the Japanese at that time. They founded the state of Manchukuo and set up the dethroned Qin dynasty emperor, Xuantong as the puppet emperor. The Japanese held all the political power. They conscripted laborers everywhere for their defense construction projects in the Black River area, which were aimed at preventing the Soviet Union from invading. The laborers were forced to work without pay, and they never knew when they would be able to return to their hometowns. The labor camps were hell on earth; the suffering was beyond words. It made people shiver just to speak of their experience there.

果舜当时是无业游民，就被日本兵抓去，送到黑河劳工营。在那里白天做牛马的工作，夜间盖草包睡觉，不能御寒，他时时在想：“怎样能逃出劳工营呢？”因为劳工营的四周，设有强力的电网，如果有任何众生撞上，马上会被电触死。虽然有电网的威胁，可是他受不了惨无人道的虐待，时时总想找机会逃走。

Guo Shun had been a loafer when he was taken to the Black River labor camp by the Japanese soldiers. During the day he was forced to toil like an ox, and at night he slept in a bale of grass which did not protect him from the cold. He constantly tried to find ways to escape. The camp was surrounded by a high-voltage electric fence which would electrify anything that touched it. Unable to take the cruel treatment, he constantly sought for a chance to escape, notwithstanding the electric barrier.

有一天晚上，他为了投奔自由，不顾生命的安全，决定离开人间地狱的劳工营。于是他利用到厕所的机会，想逃出劳工营，正要启步逃走之时，忽然来了一位白胡须的老人，对他说：“现在不是你逃走的时候，因为你的苦还没有受完，你再忍耐一段时间，等到脱苦的时候，我再通知你。希望你提高警觉，不可错过机会。”老人说完之后，就不知去向了。果舜相信老人的话，就返回营房。

One night, desperate to leave that hell-like camp and regain his freedom, Guo Shun decided to attempt an escape when he went to the toilet. When he was just about ready to take off, an old man with a silvery beard suddenly came by and said, “This is not the time for you to escape. Your suffering has not been finished. Be patient. When the time comes, I will let you know. I hope you’ll be alert and not let the chance slip by.” After saying that, the old man vanished. Guo Shun believed him and returned to the camp.

大约两个礼拜之后，果舜在梦中遇到白胡须的老人，对他这样说：“今天是你逃走的时候，在门外有只白狗，你跟着牠走，万无一失。切记！切记！”他惊喜而醒，来到门外，果然有只白狗，在那儿等着他。果舜听老人的指示，白狗在前边走，他在后边跟着，走到电网处，白狗一跃，跳过电网，这是示范动作，令果舜照样学习。果舜这个时候，福至心灵，生出灵感来，将遮寒的草包放在电网的上边，然后一跃而过，就这样平安无事逃出虎口。等他再回头，白狗却不见了，大概这是神人的帮助。

About two weeks later, Guo Shun dreamed of the old man with the silvery beard, who said, “Today you should escape. There will be a white dog outside the door. Just follow it and you’ll be all right. Remember what I’ve told you.” Guo Shun woke up with joy. When he went to the door, there really was a white dog waiting for him. Guo Shun followed the old man’s instructions and followed right behind the dog. When they reached the electric fence, the white dog jumped over it. Guo Shun knew he was supposed to follow suit. In a sudden inspiration, he took a bale of grass, put it over the fence, and then jumped over it. He was safe. When he turned around, the white dog was gone. Perhaps it had been a heavenly being coming to his aid.

他为避日本兵的追捕，白天藏在树林中，渴时就饮溪水，饿时就吃些草叶，夜间才敢行路。这样经过多日的辛苦，才回到家乡。受了这次打击之后，他觉得人生是苦，就决定出家修道。他到处找庙，都不肯收容他，当他来到三缘寺时，因为所穿的衣服破烂不堪，别人认为他是乞丐，为生活而出家，所以也不肯收留他。

In order to elude the Japanese soldiers who were searching for him, he hid in the woods by day, drinking from the streams and eating grass or leaves to satisfy his hunger. He dared to walk only at night. After many days of arduous travel, he arrived in his hometown. After his experience in the labor camp, he felt that life was full of suffering, and so he decided to become a monk and practice the spiritual path. He went to all the temples, but none would take him in. When he went to Three Conditions Monastery, people would not accept him there either because they thought he was a beggar (from his ragged clothes) who wanted to become a monk just so he could get food and shelter.

他正在大庙不收，小庙不留的时候，不知从什么地方来了一个怪人，好像讨饭的乞丐一样。这个人自我介绍，说他是老修行，会三十六天罡，七十二地煞的法术，能腾空驾云，呼风唤雨，能医治一切疑难杂症，有妙手回春的神技。这个人自吹自擂，鬼话连篇，胡诌乱说一阵，没有人相信，只有果舜相信，就拜他为师，用不正当手段得来的钱，供养他的生活。日子久了，果舜发现他没有真本事，也是个无赖汉，于是离他而去。

When he had been turned down by all temples large and small, Guo Shun met a strange man who looked like a beggar. No one knew where he was from, but he introduced himself as an old cultivator capable of all sorts of magical arts. He claimed he could fly in the sky, ride the clouds, call the wind and rain, and cure any disease, even bringing the dead back to life. No one except Guo Shun believed his nonsense and lies. Guo Shun bowed to him as his teacher and offered to support him with money which he had obtained by improper means. After a while, he discovered that the man was a scoundrel with no skills at all, and so he left him.

有一天，我到大南沟屯去，给高德福的母亲治病。她患重病，中西医都束手无策，我用神咒给她加持，结果不药而愈。全屯知道这个消息，都认为是神迹。老姚（果舜）知道了，就来到我面前，长跪不起，要求跟我出家，我当时不理他，面壁而坐，约有一个小时之久。我回头一看，老姚仍然跪在地上，我问他：“你在做什么？”

One day I went to Da-nan-gou Village to treat Defu Gao’s sick mother, whom none of the Chinese or Western doctors had been able to cure. I used no medicine to cure her, but simply the power of a mantra. The villagers thought it was a miracle. When Old Yao (Guo Shun) heard about it, he came and knelt before me, asking permission to enter the monastic life. I paid no attention to him and just sat in meditation facing the wall for about an hour. When I turned around and saw that he was still kneeling there, I asked him, “What are you doing?”

老姚说：“请师父慈悲，收我为徒弟。”

“Teacher, please be compassionate and accept me as your disciple.”

我说：“你想跟我出家吗？可是我没有什么德行，也没有什么功夫可以教导你，会令你失望的。”他说：“只要收我为徒弟，我就心满意足，别无所求。”

“You want me to let you enter the monastic life?” I asked. “I don’t have any virtue, and I have no skills to teach you. You will be disappointed.”

“I will be content as long as you take me as your disciple. I have no other wish,” he replied.

我说：“出家是苦事，要忍人所不能忍的事，要让人所不能让的事，要吃人所不能吃的苦，要受人所不能受的气，你能吗？如果能的话，我就收你为徒弟；要是不能，不要跟着我出家。”

“The life of a monk is very bitter. You have to endure what other people cannot endure, yield where others cannot yield, undergo bitterness that others cannot undergo, and bear abuses that other people cannot bear. Can you do that? If you can, I will accept you as my disciple. Otherwise, do not ask to enter the monastic life.”

老姚不加考虑，实时就说：“一切苦我都能忍受，出家虽然苦，我相信也没有劳工营苦。我有信心，能受得了。”

Old Yao replied without hesitation, “I can take any kind of suffering. Monastic life may be bitter, but I doubt it’s as bitter as working in a labor camp. I am confident that I can bear it.”

经过这番的问答，我认为他能受得苦，于是带他回到三缘寺，出家为沙弥，令他担任厨房的工作。他做事很谨慎，修行很用功，可是师兄弟与他无缘，时常欺负他，他实在忍无可忍之下，向我诉苦：“师父！师兄弟无缘无故骂我，我怎么办呢？”

Hearing him say that, I believed he could take the suffering, and so I took him back to Three Conditions Monastery. He renounced the life of a householder and worked in the kitchen as a novice monk. He was a careful worker and a diligent cultivator. However, he had no affinities with the other monks, and was often bullied by them. When he could take it no more, he came to me and asked, “Teacher, my Dharma brothers are always scolding me for no reason at all. What can I do?”

我说：“你既然受不了，可以单独修行。”他就到大南沟屯的西山龙王庙旁边一块空地，自己搭了一间茅棚，做为修行的道场。

“If you cannot take it, you may cultivate alone,” I told him. Then he went to Dragon King Temple, in the hills west of the village, and built a hut on the vacant lot next to the temple.

落成当天，佛像开光，果舜来三缘寺请我去开光，我带领几个弟子，一同前去。当天晚间，来了十条龙（化人身），要求皈依三宝。这时初夏时节，天旱无雨，禾苗枯黄，靠天吃饭的农人，垂头丧气叹命苦，有时无语问苍天，祈祷老天爷：“可怜吧！慈悲吧！降点甘露吧！”我对众龙说：“你们的工作是行雨，天这样干旱，为什么不降雨呢？”

When he completed the hut, he came to Three Conditions Monastery to invite me to bless the Buddha image. I took a few disciples along with me. That night ten dragons (manifesting in human form) came and requested to take refuge with the Triple Jewel. It was early summer, and there was a drought. The grain sprouts were parched, and the farmers were in very low spirits, for they depended on the rain. Sometimes they silently prayed to Heaven for rain. I told the dragons, “It’s your job to make the rain fall. Why has it been so dry? Why don’t you let it rain?”

诸龙说：“没有玉皇大帝的命令，不敢降雨，否则要受处罚。”

“We dare not make the rain fall if the Jade Emperor hasn’t given us the order. If we did, we’d be punished.”

我说：“你们到玉皇大帝的凌霄宝殿去，请大帝慈悲，在此处四周四十里以内降雨。明天降雨，后天授皈依，这是我们交换的条件。”

“Well, you go to the Jade Emperor and ask him to be compassionate and allow rain to fall within a fourteen mile radius of this place. I’ll transmit the Three Refuges to you the day after you make it rain. Those are my conditions.”

第二天，果然在四十里以内，降甘露雨，禾苗得到雨水的滋润，都欣欣向荣，到秋天收获时，五谷丰收比往年更多。第三天，诸龙来茅棚佛堂前，受三皈依。为了纪念这件事，就把这个茅棚，命名为“龙雨茅棚”，特书匾额，悬在茅棚上。

The next day, it really rained within a fourteen mile radius. The young grain shoots sprang to life, and that fall, there was an abundant harvest of all the crops, much better than in previous years. The day after the rain, the dragons came to the hut and received the Three Refuges. I named the hut “Dragon Rain Cottage” in memory of this event. I wrote those words on a plaque and hung it on the gate.

后来果舜发愿焚身供养佛，他自备木柴和汽油，然后坐在柴上，自燃汽油，将身焚化成灰。次日，村人发现“龙雨茅棚”被大火所烧毁，前来观看，才见果舜的身体虽然成为黑炭，但是其心完整，未被火化。大家叹息不已，于是将果舜的骨灰及心，埋葬在此处。

Later on, Guo Shun vowed to burn his body as an offering to the Buddha. He gathered a pile of firewood, doused it with gasoline, and seated himself on top of it. Then he lit a fire and burned himself to ashes. The next day, the villagers saw that Dragon Rain Cottage had been burned and went to see what had happened. Although Guo Shun’s body had been burned black, his heart was still intact and unburnt. Everyone was amazed, and they buried Guo Shun’s ashes and his heart there.

世间的一切，都是成住坏空，循环无端，若能明白这种道理，对于世界一切的一切，都不要执着，都不要有烦恼，能看破放下，就一切都没有问题了。

Everything in the world goes through the stages of coming into being, dwelling, destruction, and emptiness. There is no beginning to the cycle. If you understand this, you should not cherish attachments to anything. Don’t let anything vex you. If you can understand and let go of everything, there will be no problems.