以前在中國的上虞縣有一個商人，就是做生意的。這個商人什麼生意他都做，但是他信觀世音菩薩，很誠心地念觀世音菩薩，拜觀世音菩薩，又念誦《觀世音菩薩普門品》。
有一天晚間這個商人就做了一個夢，夢見觀世音菩薩來了，就告訴他，說：「你啊！將要有一個災難了，我現在告訴你幾句偈頌，你記得，以後就會應驗。」這個偈頌怎麼
說的呢？就說：
逢橋莫停舟，遇油即抹頭；
斗穀三升米，蒼蠅捧筆頭。
說了這四句觀音菩薩就不見了，這個商人把這四句也就記得明明白白，很清楚。
有一天，他就裝上很多的貨物，很多的東西到船上，從這一個城市到那一
個城市去賣去。這個船在江要開著就遇到大雨了，這時正遇到一條橋，好像屋崙橋〈奧克蘭大橋〉那樣一個大橋。這個擺船的就要把船停到這個橋底下來避雨，不要叫兩把東西都打濕了，可是這個商人一想：「哦！說『逢橋莫停舟』，現在在這個橋底下，不要停這個舟啊！
」就趕快叫這個擺船的，說：「快開
船，這個地方不能停。」那麼就把船開走。過這個橋之後，啊！這個橋就坍塌了，壞了。如果他在這橋底下停船，那
連人帶東西統統都會打到長江裏頭去，都會沒有了。他說：「觀音菩薩真靈！這回我沒有在這個橋底下停舟，躲過這一個大難。」
他回來到家要拜謝觀音菩薩，正拜拜佛呢，在佛前點的油燈就跌到地下，把油都灑到地下了。啊！他想：「說『逢油即抹頭』，這現在是有油了。」所以他把這個油往自己的
頭上都抹上了；抹上油了，等晚間休息睡覺，睡到半夜的時候，啊！他聞見有一股血腥的氣，人有血腥氣的。聞見有這麼一股血腥氣，他醒來一看，啊
！他自己太太的頭被人給割下來了！他自己太太被殺了，所以流出很多血把床都染紅了。那麼在半夜他就趕快去到他太太的父親母親家要去報告，說：
「今天晚間不知怎麼你的女兒死了。不知被誰殺的？ 」那麼他這岳父岳母去一看，說： 「這誰殺的？
一定是你謀財害命。你信佛，你太太不信佛，你們兩個一定是意見不相合，你不歡喜她了，藉這個題目把她殺死了，你這麼樣子來報告我。」於是乎就告到縣政府去。
到了縣政府，這個縣官審問也審問不出所以然來，於是乎就要判這個商人謀殺的罪名，正在拿著筆要判這個罪，很多的蒼蠅就來了，落到這個筆頭上。這個商人就說：「哦！真奇怪啊！這真太奇怪了！這『蒼蠅捧筆頭』。」那個縣官就問他：「你說什麼奇怪、奇怪的？
」他說：「我是信觀音菩薩的。我在家要做個夢，觀音菩薩告訴我四句話，現在這三句都應驗了，所以我認為奇怪。」
這個縣官說：「這三句是什麼呢？
」他說：「菩薩告訴我『逢橋莫停舟』。我去做生意，這個船到那橋底下正趕上下雨，擺船的要停，我沒叫他停，結果把船開過去那個橋就坍塌了。如果我在那兒停舟的話，這個船就被那個橋給砸爛了，連人也都沒有了，這是一樣。
他又叫我『遇油即抹頭』；遇到油就自己抹頭
。我在家要拜佛，佛前的油燈跌到地下，油都灑到地下了，我就把這個油往自己的頭上抹了，等晚間睡到半夜的時候，我自己太太就被人給殺了。菩薩又說：『斗穀三升米，蒼蠅捧筆頭。』這『斗穀三升米』，我現在不知怎麼樣，可是現在你縣官想要判我罪名，這個蒼蠅來捧筆頭來。這『蒼蠅捧筆頭』，豈不是也應驗了呢？」
那個縣官一聽，哦！有這麼個事情？現在這三樣都應驗了，就剩一樣這「斗穀三升米」，就和參謀研究來，研究去，說這一定有一個或者姓米的，
或者姓康的，就找這樣一個人，所以就叫密探去到這鄉下，一調查果然有個康七。因為斗穀有三升米，這豈不就是有七升糠？所以就叫康
七。
把這個人拿來一問，原來這個人和做生意這個人的太太，有一種不可告人的事情。他們兩個人準備把這個商人殺了，他們好就同住。結果康七這天晚間殺人，他用手一摸
，這個商人的頭髮上有油，他說這有油的頭
髮一定是女人的，女人頭髮才擦油的，男人不會擦油的，所以把旁邊那個沒有油的那個腦袋就砍下來了。結果這個縣官一問，問明白了，就把康七定罪了。
由此之後，做生意這個人一看，哦！這世界上的事情，因果很厲害的！於是乎以後也就出家修道，把世間一切一切都放下了。由這一點看來，這觀音菩薩，你只要對他有
誠心，他就會有感應的，你有什麼災難，他會幫忙的。
全文完
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Once there was a merchant from Shangyu
county of China. This merchant engaged in all kinds of
trade, but he also believed in Guanshiyin Bodhisattva,
recited Guanshiyin Bodhisattva's name very sincerely, bowed
in homage to Guanshiyin Bodhisattva, and recited Guanshiyin
Bodhisattva's Universal Door Chapter. One night, this
merchant had a dream in which he saw Guanshiyin Bodhisattva
come and say to him, "A disaster is about to befall you.
Remember this verse that I'm going to tell you now, for it
will come true in the future." What did the verse say? It
went,
When you encounter a bridge, don't stop
the boat.
When you see oil, smear some on your head.
One peck of grain and three pints of rice:
Flies will cluster on the tip of the brush.
After speaking these four lines,
Guanshiyin Bodhisattva vanished. The merchant remembered the
four lines very clearly.
One day, he loaded his boat with many
goods, intending to go from one city to another to sell
them. As the boat was going down the river, it began to rain
heavily. It was right then that they came to a bridge. The
bridge was a big one, like the Oakland Bay Bridge. The
oarsman was about to stop the boat under the bridge to wait
out the rain, because he didn't want the goods to get
soaked. The merchant thought, "Ah! The Bodhisattva had said,
'When you encounter a bridge, don't stop the boat.' So we'd
better not stop the boat under this bridge!" Then he quickly
told the oarsman, "Keep rowing. We can't stop here." After
they moved the boat out from under the bridge, the bridge
collapsed. If it had collapsed when they were still under
it, then both the people and the goods would have tumbled
into the Yangzte River and that would have been the end of
them. The merchant said, "Guanyin Bodhisattva is truly
efficacious! I didn't stop the boat under the bridge, and so
I missed being caught in that disaster."
When he got home, he bowed in gratitude
to Guanyin Bodhisattva. Just as he was bowing to the Buddhas,
one of the oil lamps that was lit on the altar fell to the
ground, spilling the oil all over the ground. Ah! He
thought, "The verse said, 'When you see oil, smear some on
your head.' Now here's the oil." So he smeared some of the
oil on his head. At night, he went to bed and fell asleep.
He woke up at midnight and smelled the rank odor of blood.
When he became wide awake, he took a look-oh! Someone had
cut off his wife's head. His wife had been murdered, and all
the blood had stained the bedsheets red. So at midnight he
rushed over to the home of his wife's parents and reported
what had happened. He told them, "I don't know how it
happened, but your daughter died tonight. I don't know who
killed her." His parents-in-law went to take a look and
said, "Who killed her? You must have come up with this plot
to kill her and take her money. You're a Buddhist but your
wife wasn't, so you two must have had a difference of
opinions. You were upset with her, so you used that pretext
to murder her, and then you came and told us." So saying,
they reported him to the county authorities.
The county magistrate inquired into the
case but could not figure out what had happened, so he was
going to pronounce the merchant guilty of murder. Just as he
picked up the brush to write the verdict, a swarm of flies
suddenly converged on the tip of his brush, covering the
brushtip completely. The merchant said, "How strange! This
is really very peculiar: 'Flies will cluster on the tip of
the brush.’”
The county magistrate asked him, "What
are you talking about? What's so strange and peculiar?" He
replied, "I believe in Guanyin Bodhisattva. I had a dream at
home in which Guanyin Bodhisattva told me four lines of
verse, and three of them have already come true. That's why
I think it's very strange."
"How do those three lines go?" asked the
county magistrate. The merchant said, "The Bodhisattva told
me, 'When you encounter a bridge, don't stop the boat.' When
I was going to sell my goods, my boat passed under a bridge
just as it started to rain. The oarsman wanted to stop, but
I told him not to stop there. Right after the boat passed
under the bridge, the bridge collapsed. If I had stopped the
boat there, it would have been smashed to pieces by the
bridge and we would have lost our lives. That's one line.
He also said, 'When you see oil, smear
some on your head.' When I was bowing to the Buddhas at
home, one of the oil lamps on the altar fell to the ground,
spilling the oil. I rubbed some of that oil on my head. That
night I slept until midnight, when I woke up and found my
own wife had been murdered. The Bodhisattva also said, 'One
peck of grain and three pints of rice: Flies will cluster on
the tip of the brush.' I don't know what 'one peck of grain
and three pints of rice' means, but just now when you were
going to write out the verdict, all those flies swarmed onto
your brush tip. So the line 'Flies will cluster on the tip
of the brush' also came true, right?"
Hearing this, the county magistrate
thought, "Oh! So that's what's going on. Three lines have
come true already, and there's only one left: 'One peck of
grain and three pints of rice.’” He looked into the case
with his advisors and deduced that the murderer's surname
must be either Mi ("rice") or Kang ("chaff'). A private
detective was sent to the village to search for such a
person, and indeed, there was a man named Kang Chi. If a
peck of grain contains three pints of rice, then there must
be seven pints of chaff. And so his name was Kang Chi
("chaff seven").
When the man was brought in for
questioning, it turns out he and the merchant's wife had
been doing unspeakable things. The two of them had planned
to kill the merchant so that they could live together. That
night when Kang Chi went to murder him, he had felt the oil
on the merchant's hair with his hand. He reasoned that the
oily hair must belong to the woman-only a woman would grease
her hair, not a man-so he beheaded the other person, the one
who didn't have greasy hair. After the county magistrate had
questioned him and gotten all the facts straight, he
sentenced Kang Chi.
After that incident, the merchant
reflected, "Wow! The causes and effects that govern the
affairs of the world are really devastating." He then left
the home-life to cultivate the Way, relinquishing all
worldly things. From this, we can see that as long as one
sincerely believes in Guanyin Bodhisattva, he will respond.
Whenever a disaster happens to you, he will come to your
aid.
~ The End
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