減食過午賑災

戊寅九十九歲。仍傳戒。講經。赴港作大悲法會。秋回南華。乙卯一百歲春戒期。各處兵難。新戒益多。十方來聚。公提倡每日禮懺二小時。以息災劫而超度抗日戰爭。陣亡將士。大眾吃午。減省晚食。餘糧獻與政府賑災。眾讚成。

宣化偈曰：

慈善為懷賑災民。須達長者給孤貧。
老人方外念赤子。減食節衣救群倫。

Eliminating the evening meal to relieve disaster victims

The Master was ninety-nine in 1938, and continued his annual transmission of the Precepts and lecturing of Sutras. In Hong Kong, he led a Great Compassion Dharma Assembly and then returned to Nan Hua in the fall. In 1939, the Master's one-hundredth year, there was widespread hostilities during the spring Precept Period. The new preceptees were many in number, arriving from all parts of the country. The Master recommended that everyone bow in repentance for two hours each day in order to end the disastrous plundering of the country, and also to cross over the many soldiers who had died in the war against the Japanese. He further suggested that the people in the monastery not eat after noon and turn over the food saved from their not eating dinner to the government to be used for relief. Everyone approved the Master's proposals.

The gatha says:
He cherished compassion and benevolence and aided the endangered people,
Just like the Elder Sudatta who provided for orphans and the poor.
The grand old man of Buddhism, ever thinking of the masses,
Urged the reduction of food and clothing to save his fellow beings.