諸佛菩薩、師父上人、各位法師、各位善知識：阿彌陀佛！
我叫白景學，是1993年6月1日，從中國大陸黑龍江省五常縣拉林滿族鎮黃旗村來到萬佛聖城的。以前，我父親留有一張上人在三緣寺時期的二吋照片，還時常拿出來給我們看，也講一些關於上人的故事。可是在無產階級文化大革命時期，我們白家受到海外關係的影響，我父親把上人那張最寶貴，最有紀念意義的照片左藏右藏，最後藏到什麼地方也不記得了，從那以後再也看不到上人的那張照片了。
文化大革命以前，上人從香港九龍灣給我父親和我大姐各郵一封信。哪曾想這兩封信來了以後麻煩就來了，公安局來人把我父親找到大隊談了五個小時的話，刨根問底地說，「度輪法師在香港是不是特務？」我來美國後和上人提起這件事，上人說，「我是抓共產黨的特務。」
前清乾隆九年，我們白家的祖先，牛勒西丹從北京順天府宛平縣草帽胡同轆轆把街移民到北大荒。牛勒西丹有弟兄五人，是滿族八旗「黃旗」中的貴族，移民到北大荒的有弟兄三人，這弟兄三人在黑龍江省雙城縣拉林倉西黃旗村袁家窩堡定居。最早期的袁家窩堡只有三戶人家，白家、張家和袁家。白家就是牛勒西丹氏，白姓是後來改過來的漢字姓氏，現在白家的滿族話已全部失傳。
拉林倉的南邊是吉林省的榆樹縣，北邊是黑龍江省的阿城縣，東邊是五常縣，西邊是雙城縣。我們住在榆、五、阿、雙，四縣中間的交叉點，而且拉林倉離榆、五、阿、雙四縣都是八十華里。這一帶在乾隆九年以後，都是滿八旗部落和村庄。
中華人民共和國成立以後，拉林倉從雙城縣規劃到五常縣管轄範圍。
差不多在一九六零年以前，上人就寫信找我父親及其他眷屬。那年頭，運動一個接著一個，誰還敢和在香港的上人相認呢？我們在當時都害怕被打成黑五類。一九八五年，法界佛教總會總算找到了白家的眷屬，恆持師、恆彬師、恆貴師等幾位女眾法師及在家居士們去拉林鎮縣政府會見了我父親及白家眷屬。一九八六年四月下旬，上人回到家鄉和白家眷屬及鄉親們團聚，上人和家鄉的四百多人說了兩個小時的話，以後就去了哈爾濱北方大廈。
我奶奶去世以後，上人就在袁家窩堡前面的白家墳地守孝。師父用秫秸搭的窩棚，三年都在秫秸窩棚裡打坐念佛，當時方圓幾百里的地方都知道白孝子。上人守孝的時候是止語的，偶爾出去到水井提水，如果見到長輩，上人就向長輩和老人打千。打千是滿人的禮節，右手向下伸摸右膝蓋。當時有很多人給上人送飯，有一位從吉林省來給上人送飯的八十多歲的老太太，看見上人在窩棚裡打坐很有定力，也不看她送來的飯菜。於是這位老太太就跪在上人的前面，說，「你慈悲慈悲我吧！你慈悲慈悲我吧！」她叨唸了很多遍。上人睜眼看她，這位老太太給上人叩了很多頭，就高高興興地回去了。上人慈悲，為很多眾生拔除苦難，離苦得樂。現在上人圓寂五週年了，我們都很想念上人。
一九八七年，中國佛教代表團及東北上人眷屬共102人來美國萬佛聖城，參加第一次「水陸空大法會」。一天中午，上人給東北眷屬講「殺、盜、淫、妄、酒」這五戒及談論家鄉情形。突然，屋子裡出現一隻很大的蚊子，除上人以外都伸手去拍那個大蚊子，上人趕緊說，都不要拍，那個蚊子就是我！聽上人說這話以後就沒有人再去拍蚊子，那個大蚊子也就從門的地方飛了出去。上人是用種種的方便法門教化眾生的。上人曾說過，「我是誰？我就是佛。那麼你呢？你也是佛：你我要不是佛還說他幹什麼？」一切眾生都有佛性，現在不成佛，以後也一定會成佛。
一九九五年一月，我在南加州West Covina護理上人。一天下午，上人在客廳沙發上躺著，房間裡有很多螞蟻，在上人的手上和頭上亂咬亂爬，上人像沒那麼回事似的，根本不碰那些螞蟻。果英、鳳寶兩位居士用很軟的紙抓上人身上的螞蟻，再送到外面去。可是任憑她倆怎麼抓，還是有很多螞蟻往上人的身上爬，上人和螞蟻說，「你們都走吧，我要休息了。」第二天早晨，我又過去上人的房子，這些螞蟻一個都不見了，非常不可思議。
一九八五年四月二十幾號，上人和香港的方英居士（護士），回到大陸家鄉看望上人三哥（作者父親）及俗家眷屬。聽說上人回到家鄉了，人們互相轉告，竟有四百多人跑步去看這位四十年前，在白家故地守孝修行的大德白孝子。這四百多人把上人三哥白玉堂的房子圍個水泄不通，上人和他們說：「我已經死了，是我的靈魂回來了。你們都不害怕嗎？」上人又從左邊袖口裡掏出四百多紅色小本《地藏經》分給大家，袖口裡竟能掏出來這麼多寶書！這使上人家鄉的父老鄉親們感到很驚訝，人們察覺到上人一定是佛菩薩，不然不會這麼神奇。
上人還從香港帶來一大提包芒果分給這四百多人吃。黑龍江市場上沒有芒果，偶爾賣一個，市價很昂貴，一市斤八十多塊錢人民幣。鄉親們吃著上人給的芒果感到很甜蜜，因為這是經過上人加被的呀！
一九九五年六月七日早晨三點多，我做了一個夢：在廣闊的戈壁灘上，大地像地毯一樣鬆軟，使人有非常清涼的感覺。
我走著走著，前面出現了一個小房子，我順手拉開門進到外屋，看見上人站在一個大盆子裡面洗澡。
上人很年輕，身材高大魁梧，看上去只有三十多歲的樣子。看見我進來了，上人就和我說，「你幹什麼來了？我這個地方是不叫任何人知道的。」我和上人說，「師父，我有兩件事情要和師父說。」上人說，「你來裡屋說吧！」我隨上人進到了裡屋，很快講了我要說的話。就在我做這個夢的十二小時後，上人圓寂了。
上人慈悲，給我們留下佛法，我們要人人奉獻佛事，度人為善，建立光明幸福的世界。阿彌陀佛！ |
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All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the Venerable Master, all Dharma Masters, all Good Advisors: Amitabha!
I am Bai Jingxue. I came to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas on June 1, 1993 from Yellow Flag Village in the Manchurian Clan Town of Laling in Wuchang County, Heilongjiang Black Dragon River Province in China. In the past, my father had a two-inch wide picture of the Venerable Master taken at Three Conditions Monastery. He often took it out to show us and told us stories about the Venerable Master.
However, during the Communist Cultural Revolution, the Bai family was affected by China's overseas relations. My father hid that most precious and memorable picture of the Venerable Master in various places, until he lost track of where he hid it. I never saw that picture of the Venerable Master again after that.
Prior to the Cultural Revolution, the Venerable Master had mailed my father and my elder sister each a separate letter. Who would've guessed that those two letters would bring problems? The police found my father and talked to him for about five hours, drilling him for every detail, asking, "Is Dharma Master Du Lun a spy in Hong Kong?" I mentioned this to the Venerable Master when I came to the United States, and the Venerable Master answered, "I'm a spy who nabs Communists."
In the ninth year of the Qianlong reign of the early former Qing Dyansty (1744 AD), the ancestors of the Bai family, the Niu-Le-Xi-Dan, moved from Beijing's Luluba Street of Straw Hat Alley in Wanping County of Shuntian District to the greater Northern Territory. There were five brothers in the Niu-Le-Xi-Dan family. They were members of aristocracy in the Yellow Flag Clan, one of the Eight Clans in Manchuria. There were three brothers who moved to the greater Northern Territory. These three brothers then settled down at the Yuan Family's Fort of West Yellow Flag Village in Laling Granary in Twin Cities County, Heilongjiang Black Dragon River Province. During the early days, there were only three households on that block: the Bai family, the Zhang family, and the Yuan family. The Bai family is of the Niu-Le-Xi-Dan lineage. Bai is the Han Chinese name taken later. The Manchurian language has been completely lost by now in the Bai family.
To the south of Laling Granary is Elmtree County of Jilin Province, to the north is Acheng County of Heilongjiang Black Dragon River Province, to the east is Wuchang County, and to the west is Twin Cities County. We lived at the intersection of these four counties. Laling Granary is approximately twenty-seven Chinese miles away from each of these four counties. During the ninth year of the Qianlong reign, this area was full of settlements and villages of the eight Manchurian clans. After the People's Republic of China was founded, Laling Granary was redesignated to belong to Wuchang County rather than from Twin Cities County.
Prior to about 1960, the Venerable Master wrote to search for my father and other relatives. During those days, there was one political movement after another. Who dared to reunite with the Venerable Master in Hong Kong! We were all afraid that our names might be placed in one of the five blacklisted categories. In 1985, the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association finally found the Bai relatives. At that time, Heng Chih Shi, Heng Bin Shi and Heng Gwei Shi and other female Dharma Masters and lay people went to the Laling county government to meet with my father and the Bai relatives. In the latter part of April in 1986, the Venerable Master returned home for a reunion with the Bai family and fellow villagers. The Venerable Master spoke with more than four hundred local people for more than two hours and then returned to Harbin's North Building.
When my grandmother passed away, the Venerable Master observed filial rites at the Bai tomb at the Yuan Family's Fort. For three years, the Venerable Master meditated and recited the Buddha's name in a hut of sorghum stalks. At that time, everyone for several miles around knew about Filial Son Bai. The Venerable Master was silent during his filial practice. He occasionally went to draw water from the well. If he met any elders, he would greet them in the Manchurian way, by reaching his right hand down and touching his right knee. Many people brought food to the Venerable Master. One elderly woman in her eighties brought the Master food from Jilin Province. She saw the Venerable Master meditating with such concentration in the straw hut that he didn't even glance at the dishes that she brought. Therefore, she knelt before the Venerable Master and said, "Please be kind and compassionate, please help me!" She said this a number of times. When the Venerable Master opened his eyes to look at her, this elderly woman bowed to the Venerable Master many, many times, then went away happily. The Venerable Master, being kind and compassionate, was willing to eradicate suffering and difficulties for many beings so that they would abandon misery and attain bliss. Now that this is the fifth anniversary of the Venerable Master entering into stillness, we all miss the Venerable Master very much.
In 1987, the China Buddhist Delegation and the Venerable Master's relatives from Manchuria, a total of 102 people, came to the City of 10,000 Buddhas in the United States to participate in the first ever "Water, Land, and Air Great Dharma Assembly". One afternoon, the Venerable Master was telling his relatives from Manchuria about the five precepts prohibiting killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and taking intoxicants, and chatting about their homeland, when suddenly, a huge mosquito appeared in the house. Everyone other than the Venerable Master in the house reached his hand out to smack the large mosquito. The Venerable Master immediately said, "Don't be afraid, that mosquito is just me!" After hearing the Venerable Master say this, no one swatted at the mosquito anymore, and it flew out of the door. The Venerable Master employed various expedient means to teach and transform beings. The Venerable Master has said, "Who am I? I am the Buddha. And you? You're also the Buddha. What's the use of talking about it if you and I are not Buddhas?" All beings have the Buddha nature; if we don't become Buddhas now, we will become Buddhas in the future.
In January of 1995, I was at West Covina, in southern California, taking care of the Venerable Master. One afternoon, the Venerable Master was lying on the living room sofa. There were lots of ants in the room that were crawling all over and biting the Venerable Master's hands and head. The Venerable Master looked as if nothing was happening, and didn't touch those ants at all. Two laywomen, Guo Ying and Feng Bao, used very soft paper to catch those ants on the Venerable Master and set them outside. However, no matter how many they caught, there were still lots of ants that continued to crawl all over the Venerable Master. The Venerable Master told those ants, "You should all go now, I am going to rest." The next day, I again went to the Venerable Master's house, and incredibly, every single one of those ants had disappeared.
On April 20-something of 1985, the Venerable Master and Miss Fang Yin of Hong Kong (a nurse) returned home to check on the Venerable Master's third eldest brother [the author's father] and relatives of the Bai family. Through word of mouth, people heard that the Venerable Master had come home. More than 400 people ran to visit the greatly virtuous Filial Son Bai who forty years earlier had observed the practice of filiality and cultivated at his mother's graveside. These more than 400 individuals surrounded and packed the house of the Venerable Master's third eldest brother, Bai Yutang. The Venerable Master told them, "I am already dead; it's my soul that has returned. Aren't you scared?" The Venerable Master then pulled out and distributed more than four hundred pocketsize books of the Earth Store Sutra to the people of his hometown. Everyone was so surprised that the Venerable Master could pull so many valuable books out of his pocket. People thought that the Venerable Master must be a Buddha or Bodhisattva! Otherwise things would not have been so magical.
The Venerable Master had brought a large bag of mangos from Hong Kong to share with this group of more than 400 people. The markets of Heilongjiang Black Dragon River Province don't sell mangos. The price is high for one that's occasionally purchased. Each half kilo costs more than 80 RMB (Chinese dollars). To the people of his hometown, the mangos tasted especially sweet—because they had been blessed by the Venerable Master!
At 3 a.m. on June 7, 1995, I had a dream. Along a seemingly boundless stretch of the Gobi Desert where the ground seemed as soft as carpeting and cool to the touch, I saw a little house appear up ahead. I casually opened the door and entered the outer room. (Continued from page 33) I saw the Venerable Master standing there in a large tub taking a bath. The Venerable Master was very young, quite tall and statuesque. He appeared to be in his early thirties. Seeing me, the Venerable Master said, "What are you doing here? No one is supposed to know about this place." I told the Venerable Master, "Master, I have two things to tell you." The Venerable Master said, "Come to the room inside." I followed the Venerable Master in and said what I needed to say quickly. Twelve hours after I had this dream, the Venerable Master entered into stillness.
The Venerable Master is kind and compassionate for leaving us the Buddhadharma. We should repay his kindness by doing the deeds of Buddhas, doing good to save people, and establishing a bright and blessed world. Amitofo!
I saw the Venerable Master standing there in a large tub taking a bath. The Venerable Master was very young, quite tall and statuesque. He appeared to be in his early thirties. Seeing me, the Venerable Master said, "What are you doing here? No one is supposed to know about this place." I told the Venerable Master, "Master, I have two things to tell you." The Venerable Master said, "Come to the room inside." I followed the Venerable Master in and said what I needed to say quickly. Twelve hours after I had this dream, the Venerable Master entered into stillness.
The Venerable Master is kind and compassionate for leaving us the Buddhadharma. We should repay his kindness by doing the deeds of Buddhas, doing good to save people, and establishing a bright and blessed world. Amitofo! |
