枯柏欣欣向荣

乙亥九十六岁。春汉魂李公。调任东区。兴建乏人相助。戒期后。应港东华三院请。建水陆。毕。转鼓山。请圆锳法师任住持。公回南华修祖殿。观音堂。寮房工程。冬月寺后。伏虎亭北。卓锡泉南。有老柏三株。宋代植。枯数百年。忽发新枝。

宣化偈曰：

枯柏欣欣又向荣。生气勃勃乐意浓。
笔者亲睹斯奇迹。至德感物靡不应。

Joyously witnessing the revival of withered cypresses

The Master turned ninety-six in 1935. In the spring, General Li Han Yun was transferred to regions in the east, and so there was a lack of people to aid with the reconstruction projects. Following the precept period, the Master responded to an invitation by the Tung Hua Institution of Hong Kong to lead ceremonies to benefit those who had died on land or water. Upon its completion, he returned to Ku (Drum) Mountain and asked Dharma Master Yuan Ying to replace him as Abbot. Upon his return to Nan Hua Monastery, the Master renovated the Hall of the Patriarchs, built a new Kuan Yin Hall, and also some dormitories. Around the eleventh lunar month, three ancient cypress trees north of Fu Hu Pavilion and south of Cho Hsi Spring, which had been planted during the Sung Dynasty and had been dead for several hundred years, suddenly sprang to life.

The gatha says:
The withered cypresses once again gloriously revive,
Flourishing in a burst of life, exuding joyfulness.
The author personally witnessed this strange and wonderful event:
The Master's ultimate virtue always evoked responses from all living things.