有次禪七，一位九十幾歲的老弟子，因前世欠債不還把那人給殺了。今世他有錢，修行也掛念蓋大屋給自己住，生病了要吃燕窩。上人要他發願，因為他總是病，但他不發願。禪七到第三枝香時，女眾全都聽到鐵鍊聲，還有無常鬼呼喚梁桂仙的名字，只聽到梁桂仙大叫，後來上人幫他加持，並要他懺悔，發願護持道場，事情才得了結。
上人在慈興寺的時間不多，每週只回一次，其餘時間都在西樂園或佛教講堂講經，接引眾生。從佛教講堂到香港仔搭船，坐五小時的漁船才到大嶼山的大澳碼頭，再步行兩三個小時到慈興寺。上人每次凌晨開始坐船去大嶼山，還要揹很多菜蔬、水果及醬油，到達山上已是九點多了。這些食物都是用來供養山上的法師。米則不用，因為自己種田。
有位船家說，你們師父很特別，遇上下大雨，人人都跑進船艙避雨，只有你們師父坐在船頭，不為所動，一直淋雨上山。有次上人深夜雨點摸黑下山，有人要給上人手電筒，上人不受。另一個人說，師父何必手電筒，他老人家手腳都有眼。當時天下大雨，上人淋雨淋到大澳碼頭，上船後便打坐，直淋到香港。回到西樂園後，照顧上人的居士見到，傷心得掉淚。
恆益師從早到晚天天種田，開荒墾地，難免會殺生，有很多蚯蚓或是蛇就喪生鋤下。有次坐禪時，恆益師看到蚯蚓來索命；恆益師跟它們說：「我並非有心掘死你們，因為看不到，若你們要索命的話，請容許我通知同修一聲，回頭你們再向我索命吧！」恆益師通知同修之後，再回來時，這些前來索命的蚯蚓全身發光，在她頭頂上繞了三圈，隨後飛出窗外走了。
因為種田要用牛，上人問恆益師：「妳用牛耕田，不打那條牛行嗎？」她回答：「若不打牠，牠便不走，不走怎麼耕田？」上人說：「牠今世替三寶做事，供養三寶弟子（當時慈興寺常住有二十多人），死後在下面會做官，到時會審判妳。」恆益師回答說：「到那時我向牠懺悔吧！」那條牛死後恆益師才出家，不久便出現了那個境界。境界中有一個公堂，恆益師就在公堂上，堂上坐著一個官，正在審她打牛事件，恆益師便向他懺悔。
還有一種專吃花、葉的蟲，叫紅頭軍，因為頭紅身黑。既然會破壞農作，恆益師就把牠們送到幾個山崗遠的地方去放生，結果又跑回來，屢次如此。由於太多，又太忙，恆益師沒時間和這些紅頭軍玩遊戲，就把牠們裝在月餅盒裡，結果忘記拿去放生。有次上人從香港回來，說要到田上看看，到田邊後上人用腳碰碰田邊的月餅盒子，問是什麼？恆益師說是紅頭軍。上人打開一看，全都死了。問為什麼不放生？恆益師回答：「因為太忙，忘記了。」上人說：「這幾個晚上，有幾萬隻紅頭軍在我床頭哭訴被妳們殺害了。」於是上人要恆益師等人跪在觀世音菩薩前，這時很多紅頭軍及其它蟲蟻出現。上人要她們懺悔，並求觀世音菩薩超度牠們。
一天下雨，沒開田做工。恆益師及其他人在寺中念佛，突然見到面前有一物對著她拜，紅紅的一對眼睛，問身邊的人那是什麼？「啊！是隻馬騮仔。」那人回說。恆益師想一想，難道牠想皈依？再想想，今天是初十，上人在西樂園打皈依。於是對牠說：「西樂園馬仔坑有度輪法師每逢初十都打皈依，你去皈依啦！」說完轉眼不見。沒多久馬騮仔又回來對恆益師禮拜，還執著一個本子，恆益師再問旁人那是什麼？原來是皈依證。
待續 |
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One Chan Session was attended by an old disciple in his nineties, who had killed a creditor in a past life and was wealthy in this life. He cultivated on the one hand, but dreamed of building a big mansion for himself on the other. He had to eat swallow nests [a delicacy] when he was ill. Since he was chronically ill, the Master encouraged him to make vows, but he refused. During the third sit of the Chan Session, the women heard the clacking of iron chains and the Ghost of Impermanence calling out Liang Guixian's name. They heard Liang Guixian cry out. The incident ended when the Master blessed him and asked him to repent and to support the Way-place.
The Master spent little time at Cixing Monastery, going there only once a week. He lectured Sutras and gathered in living beings at Western Bliss Garden Monastery and the Buddhist Lecture Hall the rest of the time. From the Buddhist Lecture Hall, he would go to Aberdeen to catch a fishing boat and ride for five hours to Taio Pier at Mount Dayu, then walk three hours to Cixing Monastery. The Master always set out before dawn, carrying vegetables, fruit, and soy sauce, reaching the monastery sometime past nine o'clock. He carried food supplies to provide for the Dharma Masters living at the monastery. Since the monastery grew its own rice, there was no need to bring it in.
A boatman once remarked, "Your teacher is really unusual. Everyone else hides in the cabin when it rains, but he stays at the front of the boat, totally unmoved by the rain." Someone once offered the Master a flashlight as he set out down the mountain in pitch dark at two o'clock in the morning, but the Master declined. Another person said, "Why would the Master need a flashlight? He has eyes all over his hands and feet." The Master would walk to Taio Pier in the rain, then sit in meditation on the boat, being drenched by the rain all the way to Hong Kong. When he arrived at Western Bliss Garden Monastery, his attendant nearly wept to see the Master in that condition.
It was inevitable that Heng Yi Shi would inadvertently kill some creatures, for she worked in the fields all day long, clearing and tilling land. Many earthworms and snakes lost their lives under her hoe. During meditation, she once saw earthworms come to claim her life. Heng Yi Shi said to them, "I didn't kill you on purpose. It was just that I didn't see you. If you want my life, please let me inform my companions first!" When Heng Yi Shi returned after telling her companions, the earthworms glowed, circled the crown of her head three times, then flew out the window and vanished.
Since Heng Yi Shi needed an ox to plow the fields, the Master asked her if she could avoid beating the ox. Heng Yi Shi said, "The ox won't walk if I don't hit it. How am I going to plow then?" The Master told her that by working for the Triple Jewel and making offerings to disciples of the Triple Jewel (that is, the twenty-some residents of the monastery), that ox would be reborn as a judge in the underworld after it dies, and it would sit in judgment on her.
"Then I will repent," replied Heng Yi Shi. After the ox died and Heng Yi Shi left the home life, she had a vision in which she saw herself in court being sentenced for beating the ox. Heng Yi Shi promptly repented to the judge.
There is an insect that feeds on flowers and leaves, named "redheaded soldier" on account of its red head and black body. Since these insects devoured the crops, Heng Yi Shi would collect them and release them in a place that was several hills away. But each time, they would return. There were huge numbers of them and she was too busy to play games with them. Once she placed them in a mooncake box and forgot to release them. Upon returning from Hong Kong, the Master went to the fields and indicated the box with his foot. In response to his inquiry, she replied, "Those are red-headed soldiers." The Master opened the box. They were all dead. Asked why she had not released them, Heng Yi Shi replied, "I was too busy, I forgot about them."
The Master told her, "Every night, several tens of thousands of red-headed soldiers have come to complain that you had killed them. " The Master told Heng Yi Shi and the others to kneel before Guanyin Bodhisattva. Many red-headed soldiers and other insects appeared, and the Master instructed his disciples to repent and to ask Guanyin Bodhisattva to liberate the creatures.
One rainy day when they could not work in the fields, Heng Yi Shi and others were reciting the Buddha's name in the monastery. Suddenly a creature with a pair of red eyes appeared before her and started bowing. When she asked what it was, she was told it was a monkey. "Maybe it wants to take refuge," she thought. Then she remembered that it was the lunar tenth and the Master would be transmitting the refuges at Western Bliss Gardens Monastery. She told the monkey, "Dharma Master Du Lun transmits the refuges every month on the tenth at Western Bliss Gardens. Go take refuge!" The monkey vanished, but reappeared a little later and bowed to Heng Yi Shi. It was holding something in its hand. It was a refuge certificate.
To be continued |
