Legend of Gold Mountain Living Buddha 15 - Living Buddha's Nirvana Miracle 活佛圓寂現神奇

(Chinese and English subtitles) Written by Master Optimist , 金山活佛神異錄, 樂觀法師(1902~1987) 著
Subtitles:
Since Longhua Temple was closed by the Myanmar government, the Living Buddha had resided in the Shwedagon Pagoda for a long time, making his life even more difficult. All his movements are not like before and had a big change, which is unusual. He actually broke his obsession with fire and stopped eating rice, only picked up clutters like melon rinds, fruit peels, peanut shells, melon seed shells, rust, and waste paper on the tower every day to satisfy his hunger.
Meanwhile, because he did not take a bath for a long time; he worshiped Buddha on a hot stone slab; he had no proper nutrition; plus he suffered from heat poisoning, combining various causes, then, in the 4th month of the lunar calendar, 1934, he developed poisonous sores on the back of his feet. Nonetheless, he still continued to prostrate on the hot stone slab and bow to the Buddha regardless of his illness and suffering.
When QingYun Chen, the great disciple of the Living Buddha, saw that the Living Buddha was sick on the pagoda and had no one to take care of him, he volunteered to take the Living Buddha in his car to his home to recuperate. He gave his bed to the Living Buddha and let him sleep. He served him diligently just as a son filial to his father. Seeing that the Living Buddha grew a large sore on the back of his feet, he recommended to invite a doctor to treat the Living Buddha. However, his advice was rejected. After a few days, the sores became more ulcerated and maggots were born. The Living Buddha still refused to heal, and every day he caught the little creatures on the sores one by one and asked people to send them to the green grass to be released.
Seeing such situation, Chen felt very sad and said to the Living Buddha: "About Master's disease, my take is it must be treated. Otherwise, it will not get better. Please accept my request. I am willing to spend even a hundred or two hundred dollars a day as long as Master will be cured of the disease.”
Each time, the Living Buddha just shook his hand and refused to see the doctor. Later, Chen saw that the sores were even more festering and fearful, and the pus and blood kept flowing out, so he urged the Living Buddha to seek medical treatment.
The Living Buddha sighed a long breath and said, "Disciple, although you have wealth and are willing to give, nonetheless, there is nothing you can do to change my karma. Haven't you heard the ancients say, 'Everyone born in this world is sinful?' Everyone is here to suffer the karmic retribution of sin. You see that those who are sick are suffering. However, you should know that those who are not sick may also be suffering. This body is the body of retribution, and when the retribution is finished, you will get a great liberation.
The Buddha said, 'Receptiveness to suffering, receptiveness to joy, receptiveness to neither suffering nor joy.' Everything is receptiveness, and we must accept it.
When a practitioner of the way gets sick, he should endure it calmly, not manage it with an effort, but let it happen naturally. If this retribution does not end, the next life will be involved. Don't be sad, just let it be!
Since beginningless eons, how many times have we got reborn? How many times have we died? Practitioners only seek the assurance of settling their lives peacefully. It's nothing much to die.”
No matter how much Chen persuaded, the Living Buddha insisted on not healing his disease. Chen saw that the Living Buddha was very determined and there was nothing else he could do. On the 8th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar, Chen thought of the Buddha's illness, which was entirely due to the heat poison caused by not taking a shower, thinking perhaps taking a shower would be better. So, he asked the Living Buddha to take a shower. Unexpectedly, when he mentioned showering this time, the Living Buddha nodded and agreed. He told Chen, "I think it's a good idea for me to take a shower. It's time to flush out my body today."
While saying that, he climbed out of bed, and they helped him to the shower room. It turns out that a shower nozzle was installed on the roof of the showering room. When turning on the water pipe, the stream flows down gently from the holes of the nozzle, neither slow nor fast. He led the Living Buddha to stand under the shower nozzle and showed him how to turn on the water tap.
He also said to the Living Buddha, "You have not taken a shower for a long time. You have to take a shower longer to get rid of the heat.” The Living Buddha grinned and replied," I know, I must shower more, just this once, then no more shower." It was about 7 pm when he took a shower. The Chen family, after sending the Buddha into the shower room, came out and closed the door. After a while, the Living Buddha didn't came out, they thought he wanted to take a shower more, so they had to wait.