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一九九九年九月十五日下午上妙下蓮老和尚率修切、修雨法師與居士蒞臨金佛寺。老和尚由台灣抵達溫哥華，是為主持加拿大靈巖山寺佛殿落成開光典禮，並請大眾於九月十九日前去觀禮。金佛寺眾弟子列隊由寺門到大殿跪接，老和尚對此禮儀，讚揚不已，並說：「這就是你們的師父的教導!其他的地方沒有，沒有這功夫!你們跪著，我可是想到你們的上人，也是我的老同參，對你們的教導，你們能信受奉行。」老和尚謙稱自己是萬分萬分的不敢當，接著他提到與上人的舊緣──
「說起來是一九四九年，我從南華經過，我們見面。那時候我離開的時候，他還送我一百塊錢，一百塊錢美金啊!現在剛好五十年了!」老和尚還說，「三十多年前，我們在香港大嶼山常見面，後來他到美國建金山寺和萬佛城，我也曾去看望他。說出來不怕大家見笑，在大嶼山的時候，一講起話來，俺就吵架了。說是吵架，不過現在想想，可是沒有這個人在同我吵架。」
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In the afternoon of September 15, 1999, Elder Master Miao Lian accompanied by Dharma Masters Xiu Qie and Xiu Yu and lay people came to Gold Buddha Monastery. The Elder Master had come from Taiwan to host the grand opening of the Lingyan Mountain Temple (Canada) and had invited the members of Gold Buddhas Monastery to attend the ceremony on September 19th. In honor of the occasion, the great assembly at Gold Buddha Monastery knelt in lines extending from the door to the main hall in order to receive the Venerable Elder. The Elder Master praised the formal reception, saying, “Ah, this is your Master’s teaching! Nowhere else have people greeted me in this way. No one has ever performed such a ritual! You have faithfully followed the teachings of your Master, my old fellow cultivator.” The Elder Master added humbly that he didn’t deserve the honor a bit!
Furthermore, the Elder Master recounted his affinity with the Venerable Master Hua: “Let me see…It was in 1949 that we first met each other at Nanhua Monastey. He gave me $100 when I left the temple. That was American dollars! That happened exactly fifty years ago!”
“Thirty some years ago, the Venerable Master Hua and I saw each other often in Happy Valley, Hong Kong. Later, he went to the United States and founded Gold Mountain Monastery and the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, and I went there to visit him. I am not afraid that you will laugh at me. When we were in Hong Kong, I would argue with him frequently when we conversed! However, as I reflect on it now, there wasn’t a person who was arguing with me.”
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