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宣公上人是一位孝子，一向重視孝道，所以每年秋末冬初，法總的道場都會辦敬老的活動--敬老節，這個活動非常有意義。今年敬老節有這個節目「談古說今」，我本來是不敢講，不過在師兄、師姐一再鼓勵下，我就和各位講一些我自己的事。我先「談古」說我外婆的「奇事」。我的老家在福建，老家有好幾進的房子，大門進來是走廊，過了走廊是大廳，大廳後面是後廳，後廳過去是花園，外婆有個佛堂在後花園裏面。我的外婆是吃長素的，在外婆晚年的時候，她每天都要念經。
我家靠近北門城邊，有一天外婆正在念經的時候，忽然有一隻豬，撞我家的門。原來這一隻豬是被人從城外鄉下趕進城裡。進了城，牠就到我們家的門口，就撞門。趕豬人趕牠都沒辦法，牠自己撞開門跑了進來。令人難以相信的事，進門以後，走過很長的一條走廊，然後登堂，上我們的大廳，再走到後廳去。牠還會轉彎，轉到我們家的後花園。當時我的外婆跪在那裏念經，她每天都要念三種經，她正在念《阿彌陀經》。不可思議的是─這隻豬牠就兩條前腿跪到旁邊。我家很深很深的大宅院，牠居然一步都沒有走錯，就直直地走到佛堂那裏，跪在那裏。我外婆一看這種情形，也不趕牠。這時趕豬的人追進來了，我外婆就對他說：「這條豬我買了，我要放生！」
我外婆終身吃長素、念經，先母也是，傳到我也吃素，來到臺灣後，我的岳父、岳母，都是吃素的。我相信真的這都是有因緣的。
 再「說今」，我退休以後，每天沒有做什麼功課，就是念一部《金剛經》，從〈開經偈〉念到後面的《心經》、〈大悲咒〉。我覺得一個在家人，這樣修行大概差不多了。沒想到去年十一月十六日，我膽發炎。現在膽發炎，只要鑽幾個洞，就把結石鉗出來了。我不行，因為我發炎得太厲害了，器官和器官已經沾黏在一起了，必須要開刀。當我進醫院、進手術房，任何時間，我都要念《心經》、念〈大悲咒〉。手術進行五個半鐘頭，再轉到加護病房。開刀以後一切很順利，第四天就把點滴管拿掉。下午四點多點滴管拿掉了，晚上九點多鐘，忽然間我全身冒冷汗，心裏非常地慌。護士小姐擔心地問我：「你有沒有心臟病？」我說：「我沒有！」她就叫醫生來，醫生一看，就趕快給我用氧氣。我看醫生面色沉重，那時我以為醫生要開「病危通知書」了。很奇怪！那時候連一句《心經》、一句〈大悲咒〉都念不出來。後來五分鐘過後，沒事了。第二天醫生來查病房，我把昨天晚上的情形向他報告，他說：「那是因為你的點滴管拿掉的關係！」因為我沒有這個經驗，所以心裏頭慌。
這次經驗以後，我警覺到自己平常功課做得不夠、修得不夠。假如我修得好、功課圓滿，到生死關頭的時候，什麼經咒一定還是能滾瓜爛熟地念出來，但是我那個時候真的一個字也念不出來！今天我藉這個機會向佛菩薩、向上人和各位表示懺悔──我平常功夫作得不夠，還要多下功夫。阿彌陀佛！
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Venerable Master Hua was a filial child and always advocated filiality. Every year late in the fall or early during the winter, Dharma Realm Buddhist Association’s temples honor elders by celebrating Honoring Elders Day. This event is quite significant. As part of this year’s program we are “Speaking of the Past and Present.” Originally, I didn’t dare to speak today, but other fellow cultivators kept encouraging me, so I’ll just share some things about myself. I will first “speak about the past” by relating an incredible experience from my grandmother’s past. Our old home in Fujian had several levels of entry. Enter the front door and there’s a veranda. Go through the veranda and there’s the living room. Behind the living room is a lounge. Beyond that is a garden. We have a Buddha hall at home and it is behind the garden. My grandmother was a lifelong vegetarian, and late in her life she recited the sutras every day.
My family lived next to the city’s north gate, which was near a rural area. One day while my grandmother was reciting a sutra, a pig was chased into the city. Once it came in, it came to our door and was banging against it. Even the person who was rounding up the pig couldn’t do anything about it. It pushed its way through the door. After it entered, it went through the long corridor and entered the living room, proceeding to the lounge. It knew how to make the turns to reach the garden, where my grandmother was reciting a sutra. She recited three sutras every day. At that time she was reciting the
Amitabha Sutra. Amazingly, the pig knelt next to her. It didn’t take one wrong turn in a house so complicated. It went directly and knelt there. When my grandmother looked up later, she didn’t chase it away. When the person who was trying to round up the pig came, my grandmother told him, “I’ll buy this pig and liberate it!”
My grandmother was a vegetarian and recited sutras for most of her life. My late mother did too. As for me, I also became a vegetarian. When I came to Taiwan, my father-in-law and mother-in-law were also vegetarians. I believe that we all had affinities.
As for the present...after I retired, I didn’t practice much on a daily basis. I only recited the
Vajra Sutra once a day, starting from the opening verse up to the
Heart Sutra and the Great Compassion Mantra in the back. I felt that this was enough for a layperson. Unexpectedly, my gallbladder became inflamed last November 16th. The average [treatment for a] gallbladder inflammation is very simple: all they have to do is cut a few holes and extract the gallstones. It didn’t work that way with me because my inflammation was too serious. Some of my organs were stuck together so that I had to have a surgery, which took five and a half hours in the operation room and then time in the intensive care unit. Things went smoothly after the operation. A little after four in the afternoon on the fourth day after the operation, the intravenous drip was taken off. After nine o’clock that night, suddenly I had a cold sweat all over my body. I panicked. By that time, the nurse was worried and asked me, “Do you have heart disease?” I said, “I don’t!” She called the doctor. The doctor took a look and quickly used oxygen on me. I thought the doctor was about to write a “notification of death” then. Of course all the while since I had entered the hospital and had been in the operation room, I recited the
Heart Sutra and the Great Compassion Mantra, but strangely enough, I couldn’t recite one line of the
Heart Sutra or the Great Compassion Mantra at that point. Five minutes later, things were okay. The next day when the doctor came and made his rounds, I told him about the situation last night. He said, “That’s because your intravenous drip was taken off!” I panicked because I didn’t have this kind of experience before.
After this experience, I was alarmed that I hadn’t been doing enough in terms of spiritual practice and cultivation on an average basis. If I had practiced and cultivated enough, whichever sutra or mantra it may be, would have just rolled right off of my tongue when I was near the brink of death. But I couldn’t say one word then. Today, I would like to take this opportunity to repent to the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Venerable Master and all of you. I don’t practice enough on a typical basis and I will have to apply more effort. Amitabha!
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