举巨石服群众
丁己七十八岁春。由观音亭起运玉佛。雇八工人畀之。送至鸡山。行数十日。山岭崎岖。人迹未到处。一日行至野人山。工人疑玉佛内有金宝。置佛于地。言力不胜。起价。善言不听。似有不利者。瞥见巨石。数百斤重。公指谓佛与石孰重。曰二三倍之。公力举石。工者畏服。曰老和尚活佛也。送佛至山。厚赏之去。
宣化偈曰:
护法默助也。
Moving a boulder and winning workmen's respect
The Master's seventy-eighth year was 1917. In the spring, eight workers were hired to transport the jade Buddha from Kuan Yin Pavilion to Chicken Foot Mountain in China, a journey of quite a few days over treacherous mountain paths and places where no people had previously gone. One day while passing through Yeh Jen (Wild Men) Mountain, the workers got the idea that there were gold and gems inside the Buddha, which they consequently refused to carry further, saying that they had no strength to do so. They raised their fee and would not listen to reason, as if someone were taking advantage of them. The Master noticed a boulder of several hundred pounds to which he pointed and said, "Is this rock not heavier than the Buddha?" The workers agreed that it was two or three times heavier. The Master then raised the boulder over his head, and the workers were completely awed. They said, "This Venerable Master is a living Buddha!" They carried the Buddha image through the mountains and were generously rewarded by the Master upon arrival at their destination.
It was said:
The Dharma Protectors silently lent their aid.