枯柏欣欣向榮

乙亥九十六歲。春漢魂李公。調任東區。興建乏人相助。戒期後。應港東華三院請。建水陸。畢。轉鼓山。請圓瑛法師任住持。公回南華修祖殿。觀音堂。寮房工程。冬月寺後。伏虎亭北。卓錫泉南。有老柏三株。宋代植。枯數百年。忽發新枝。

宣化偈曰：

枯柏欣欣又向榮。生氣勃勃樂意濃。
筆者親睹斯奇跡。至德感物靡不應。

Joyously witnessing the revival of withered cypresses

The Master turned ninety-six in 1935. In the spring, General Li Han Yun was transferred to regions in the east, and so there was a lack of people to aid with the reconstruction projects. Following the precept period, the Master responded to an invitation by the Tung Hua Institution of Hong Kong to lead ceremonies to benefit those who had died on land or water. Upon its completion, he returned to Ku (Drum) Mountain and asked Dharma Master Yuan Ying to replace him as Abbot. Upon his return to Nan Hua Monastery, the Master renovated the Hall of the Patriarchs, built a new Kuan Yin Hall, and also some dormitories. Around the eleventh lunar month, three ancient cypress trees north of Fu Hu Pavilion and south of Cho Hsi Spring, which had been planted during the Sung Dynasty and had been dead for several hundred years, suddenly sprang to life.

The gatha says:
The withered cypresses once again gloriously revive,
Flourishing in a burst of life, exuding joyfulness.
The author personally witnessed this strange and wonderful event:
The Master's ultimate virtue always evoked responses from all living things.