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我想起我在東北，有一段的時期和這錢分開家了，我不拿錢，手裡不摸這個錢。為什麼那時候我持銀錢戒呢？我這有一點原因。因為我出家，我那廟上有四、五十個和尚，有的時候二、三十，有的時候十幾個，有的時候三、四十，也不一定。我到那廟上出家，這方丈和尚沒有在廟上，其他人也沒有人認識我的。方丈可能到外面去化緣去了，我就到那兒說出家。廟上那些和尚，就把我留到廟上出家了。我說：「我認識方丈和尚。」大家都很高興的，很歡迎。
這麼樣出家，就要做什麼呢？要做苦行。我做的苦行和你們做的不同，你們這是打打字啦、念念經啦、或者是有其他的工作。我那是很大的一個鄉下的廟，有很多工作；就掃這廟的院子，也要掃一個鐘頭，才能掃完的。我在廟上收拾廁所、洗廁所，這是我的第一個工作。但是那廁所不是這種的廁所，那種就是在地下挖個坑，我們要把它拿出來放到一邊去，那個味道很「香」的；因為修道的人不願意聞香味，所以把這些糞搬到另外一個地方去。那麼這個工作是由我來做，因為我這是初初發心，對於這香塵還沒有斷，所以天天收拾這種工作，也不覺討厭。
在廟上我也掃地，做種種的工作。有的時候下雪，就要早一點把路都打掃乾淨了，讓人好走路去上殿、念經。我在人都沒起身以前，好像人四點鐘起身，我在兩點鐘就起來，把下的雪，都收拾乾淨了；其他人起身走路，就沒有雪了。這是我的工作。
等到方丈和尚過了一個時期回來了，一見到我就說：「啊！你來了。」我說：「我來了。」出家以後，他就和大家開會，要在廟上選首座和尚。首座和尚就是除了方丈和尚，就是首座；等方丈若退位了，首座就做方丈。有幾十個和尚，那方丈和尚他誰也不選，他要選我來做首座和尚。他問大家，大家都反對，說：「他一個剛出家的，怎麼可以做首座和尚呢？」方丈和尚說：「那我們在韋陀菩薩前，大家來抽籤吧！」就求籤，寫上幾個人的名字，誰可以有資格做首座都寫上，到籤筒搖，搖出來看是誰的名字，就是誰。搖了幾次，哎呀！很奇怪！這大約是韋陀菩薩，他要給我找一點工作，所以搖了三次，都是我的名字跳出來。所以大家也不敢反對了，這韋陀菩薩安排的；所以我在廟上就做首座。
做首座以後呢，方丈和尚又想叫我做當家，當家就是做老闆之類的。我一想：「這太麻煩了。好了，你叫我當家，我不摸錢，你看這個家怎麼當法？」所以他叫我當家，我說：「可以的。但是我不摸錢，請旁人拿錢旁人數，我無論到什麼地方，我都不摸錢的，我當這麼個家就可以。」就這個樣子，就持銀錢戒囉！
持銀錢戒，很奇怪的，我出門多數因為是自己出去，去搭火車。廟上離火車站很近的，沒有巴士，只有火車。搭搭火車要買票的；得拿錢買票，這就是摸錢了。我就到那兒等著，我到什麼地方去，就在火車站那兒等著，看有熟人來，他就給我買張票，我就去；沒有熟人來，我就在那兒等。但是很奇怪的，每逢我到什麼地方去，在那個火車站上等火車，一定有人來給我買票的，問我到什麼地方去，然後就給我買張票。 |
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While in Manchuria there was a short period during which money and I parted company. I never touched money and for a good reason. Living in the temple where I lived when I left home were forty or fifty bhikshus, but sometimes as few as a dozen. When I first arrived at the temple, the abbot was out begging and none of the bhikshus knew me. "I know the abbot, and I want to leave the home-life," I said, and they welcomed me.
After leaving home, I practiced austerities, but not the ones you practice. You type, recite Sutras, and so forth, but in the big rural temple where I lived, there was a lot of outside work to be done. Sweeping the courtyard alone took an hour. My first job was to clean the toilets, which weren't flush toilets, but pit toilets, and every day the waste had to be removed because the cultivators did not want to smell the odor. They gave this work to me because I had just left home and had not yet cut off my attachment to smells. I did it every day and didn't mind it too much.
I did various chores at the temple, such as sweeping. When it snowed I got up before everyone else; I got up at two in the morning and swept the walkways so that they were clear at four when everyone else got up to go to the Buddha hall and recite Sutras.
When the abbot returned and saw me he said, "So you have come!"
"Yes," I said, "I have."
After I had formally left home, he called a meeting, wishing to elect a manager, a position second only to the abbot. When the abbot retires, the manager becomes the new abbot. Among the several dozen monks, the abbot wanted to choose me. Everyone objected, "He has just left home," they said. "How can he possibly be manager?"
"Very well," said the abbot. "Let's go before the image of Weitou Bodhisattva and draw names." Oddly enough, (Weitou Bodhisattva must have wanted to give me some work to do) they drew three times and my name came up each time. No one said a word because I had been elected by Weitou Bodhisattva himself.
Later, when the abbot wanted to make me an administrator, I thought, "It's too much trouble. If he tells me to do it, I won't touch money. How will he expect me to administrate then?" So I said, "All right, but I will not touch money. Other people must handle and count it. That is my condition." That's how I started holding the precept of not touching money.
Unusual things happened when I held this precept. Whenever I went to the train station near the temple, I didn't bring money to buy a ticket, because I couldn't hold money. I would sit and wait for someone who knew me to come and offer to buy me a ticket. If no one came I just waited, but strangely enough, whenever I went to the station, someone would come and ask me where I wanted to go and then buy me a ticket. |
