Old Monk Xuyun 02

 

虛雲老和尚在雲居山的事蹟點滴 02

紹雲法師  2014/12/03

After meeting the old monk, he asked me why I became a monk.

 

 I said it was to become a Buddha.

The old man was very happy after hearing this, and immediately accepted me as his disciple and ordained me personally, naming me Xuande and Shaoyun.

In the winter month of that year, I went to Nanhua Temple to receive full ordination.

Then he returned to Yunju Mountain to live permanently and went out to farm on the slopes with others.

A few months later, I began to serve the old monk.

During the day, I listened to

 the lectures of the abbot,

 Master Haideng, at vihāra.

The old monk was 117 years old at the time, more than two meters tall, with piercing eyes.

He never wore glasses when he read the small print in newspapers under a kerosene lamp at night.

There are thirty-six teeth, all neat and without defects.

He said they were regenerated after he was ninety years old.

His voice was very loud, and sometimes when he gave sermons in the meditation hall, his voice was so loud that the bell in the meditation hall vibrated to a buzzing sound.

When the old monk arrived at Yunju Mountain in July 1953, the mountain was covered with rubble and weeds.

There were only three dilapidated dormitories and four monks.

This is the desolate scene that has been left since Zhenru Temple was brutally shelled by Japanese soldiers on March 19, 1939, and all the halls and pavilions were destroyed.

Within a few months after the old monk arrived at Yunju Mountain, more than fifty people came.

They refused to leave after seeing the old monk.

The old monk then applied to the government to rebuild Yunju Mountain, and construction started immediately after being approved.

In order to be self-sufficient in life, they began to reclaim wasteland and plant crops.

When I went there in 56 years, nearly 100 acres of paddy fields and more than 60 acres of dry land had been developed.

It can harvest 60,000 to 70,000 catties (Chinese kilos) of rice and 70,000 to 80,000 catties of sweet potatoes and potatoes every year.

見到老和尚後，他問我為何出家？我說是為了成佛。他老人家聽後很歡喜，隨即收我為徒，並親自為我剃度，取名宣德，號紹雲。

當年冬月，即去南華寺受具足戒。

然後返迴雲居山常住，隨眾出坡。

幾個月後，開始侍奉老和尚，白天則在常住上聽住持和尚海燈法師講經。

老和尚當年一百一十七歲，身高兩米多，雙目炯炯有神，晚上在煤油燈下看報紙的小字從不戴眼鏡。

牙齒三十六隻，整整齊齊，沒有缺損，聽他說是九十歲後才再生的。

他的聲音非常洪亮，有時在禪堂裡講開示，聲音一大，把禪堂裡的報鐘震動得「嗡嗡」作響。

老和尚於一九五三年七月到雲居山時，山上滿目瓦礫，荒草遍地，只有三間破舊大寮和四個僧人。

這是自一九三九年三月十九日真如寺慘遭日本軍人炮火，殿堂樓閣毀壞殆盡後，所剩下的一片荒涼景況。

老和尚到雲居山後不數月，已來了五十多人，他們見了老和尚後都不肯離去。

老和尚於是向政府申請重建雲居山，獲批准後隨即動工。

為了生活上能自給自足，便開始開墾荒地，栽種莊稼。

我五六年去的時候，已經開發了近一百畝水田地，六十多畝旱地。

每年可收水稻六、七萬斤，紅薯和馬鈴薯七、八萬斤。

 

(1)piercing eyes

  ➊耳朵靈敏

  ➋目光銳利

  ➌四肢靈活

 

(2)to farm➊耕作➋旅遊➌跑步

 

(3)Nanhua Temple 

  ➊南華宮➋南華寺➌南華大學

 

(4)asked me➊問你➋問我➌問他