Legend of Gold Mountain Living Buddha 9 - The Living Buddha Likes to Release the Living 活佛歡喜放生

(Chinese and English subtitles) Written by Master Optimist , 金山活佛神異錄, 樂觀法師(1902~1987) 著
Subtitles:
The Living Buddha is compassionate to all people, not only to relieve people's illnesses and sufferings but also to birds, animals, fish and turtles. He was always happy to let go of the living wherever he went, and this thing had become a regular program in his life. When it comes to his 'release the living', it is also an amazing and toughing thing.
Frankly, everything he carried was worthless. How did he buy the living things and release them?
Besides, he did not 'let go' just a few, but in bulk each time, and his method was clever. It was also like buying rice and oil to donate to the temple, he went to the fish shop, and when he saw fish, turtle, shrimp, eel, tortoise, and spiral shells, the bought several loads of them as long as they were alive. The money was on his credit, and the fish house owner knew that he bought them to release, and he is the Gold Mountain Living Buddha.
They would rest assured to give him credit rather than give others credit, and he never paid back a penny less. After buying those little creatures, as usual, he gave them the 'Three Refuges' and recited the Great Compassion Mantra a few times. When he release living creatures, he was sure to do it discreetly and personally. One said, this is a trifle thing. Why do you bother to escort it by yourself?”
He said, “You only know the Buddha's heart but do not know the human's heart. If I don't escort it personally, they may turn around halfway, and 'let them go' becomes 'let them die' instead.”
The Living Buddha's practice of virtue can be described as 'a straight hear, a true heart, and a deep heart toward the path.'
One time, the Living Buddha too his disciple to Nanjing riverside and invited me to join him in releasing the lives of the little ones.
It's a joyful journey, and I was glad to go along with him. This time, I saw a mysterious scene that I had never seen before, and I also got the proof of Buddha's words, 'All beings on earth have Buddha-nature.'
When the wooden boat reached the center of the river, and we poured those small living things into the water, they seemed to be reluctant to leave, forming a group on the water surface, and did not swim away immediately. Most amazingly, the little creatures' heads all turned towards the people on the ship, blinking their eyes as if express their gratitude for rescuing their lives. The Living Buddha waved his hand to those little beings and said, “Disciples, today you are happy. From now on, don't be gluttonous or restlessly bumping around but cherish your lives. Go!” Like children listening to the adult's command, they slowly dispersed.
There were even more bizarre things. When the wooden boat returned, and it had rowed a distance. Suddenly, we found a very large and long worm that followed our boat and swam toward us, stretching its head out of the water. Everyone was surprised at the sight and looked closely. It was neither like a snake nor an eel; its two eyes protruded with luster; its head was triangular; its mouth was flat; its body was snow-white, about 6 or 7 feet long, and was as thick as the opening of a teacup.
On seeing this, no one could recognize what it was. The Living Buddha said with a smile, “Let's chant the Buddha and leave it alone.” But it kept up with the boat. Sometimes, it swam to the left side or the right side. It followed us truthfully and would not leave. When the boat was close to the shore, the Living Buddha said to the big worm, “Thanks for your hard work, Dragon King Bodhisattva. We are almost to the shore. You don't need to see us off anymore, please go back.”
After the words, the big worm submerged and disappeared. Till now, I still can not figure out that incident. Could it be a real dragon king? Was it true that the Dragon King came to see us off?