164.雙鵝念佛往生 Giving refuge to two geese, that, mindful of the Buddha, go off to rebirth

雙鵝念佛往生

庚申八十一歲。唐督請公住華亭寺。唐赴港。張拙仙以雌雄二鵝。送云栖寺放生。請說皈依。俯首靜聽。說戒畢。作喜狀。隨人上殿。誦經。繞佛。如是三年。雌鵝于佛前。又繞三匝。屹立蛻去。不久雄者亦然。毛形不萎。盛以木盒。葬之一塚。

宣化偈曰：

一切眾生有佛性。百千三昧證菩提。 萬物原來本一體。三界無私任自適。

Two Geese, mindful of the Buddha, go off to rebirth

The Master was eighty-one in 1920, and Governor T’ang invited him to stay in Hua T’ing (Flower Pavilion) Monastery. Later, T’ang went to Hong Kong. One day Chang Ch’ou Hsien brought a pair of geese, one male and one female, to be set free at Yun Ch’i (Cloud Abode) Monastery. He requested the Master speak the refuges for them. The geese lowered their heads and quietly listened, and after the precepts were explained, they appeared happy. For the subsequent three years, they followed along with the assembly during the ceremonies, Sutra recitation, and circumambulating of the Buddha. Then one day, the female goose walked around the Buddhas to the right three times, stood up straight and left her body. It was not long after that the male followed along. At death, their feathers did not wilt, but remained fresh. The geese were placed in small wooden boxes, and buried.

The gatha says: Every single living being has the Buddha nature. In hundreds of thousands of different samadhis they are certified to enlightenment. The source of the ten thousand things is but a single substance. To be devoid of self in the three phases of time is to gain complete self-mastery.