老龍神受寶戒

壬申九十三歲。春戒期中。有一老叟。鬚髮雪白。面貌清奇。直入丈室。跪公前。言來求戒。問其姓氏。云閩南台橋人。姓楊。時有新戒妙宗。亦南台人。詢之不識此老者。菩薩戒畢。即失蹤。妙宗回南台。進龍王廟。神像儼然受戒老者。

宣化偈曰：

龍王求戒化老翁。菩薩戒畢影無蹤。
妙師經過龍神側。戒牒端然在手中。

Transmitting the jeweled precepts to an old dragon spirit

During the Spring Precept Transmission period of 1932, when the Master was in his ninety-third year, an old man with snow-white hair and beard and an unusual manner arrived and went directly to the Abbot's quarters. Kneeling before the Master, he said he had come to seek the precepts. When asked his name, he replied that he was called Yang, and was a native of Nan T'ai Chiao in Fukien Province. At that time, there happened to be a newly precepted monk from Nan T'ai named Miao Tsung in residence. When asked, the latter said he did not know the old man, who disappeared after the transmission of the Bodhisattva Precepts. Dharma Master Miao Tsung returned to Nan T'ai, and upon entering the Lung Wang (Dragon King) Temple, was startled to discover that the image of the majestic spirit showed he was none other than the old man who had just received the precepts!

The gatha says:
The Dragon King, seeking the precepts, turned into an old man.
The Bodhisattva Precepts once transmitted, he was gone without a trace.
But when Dharma Master Miao himself passed by the Dragon Spirit,
The latter held right in his hand a precept certificate!