文／蓮生活佛 盧勝彥
在「葉子湖」隱居閉關，一有空閒，便禪定入三昧。有一回，自覺走入一大山中，此山不是普通的山，因為風吹之處，有妙香，有栴檀林。此山光明各異，有大如車輪者，有大如蓮花者，也有小如細豆者，山中光明飛來飛去。我神行中，入莊嚴城廓，身心清泰，無比的舒暢。
在山腳，看見有淨水迴山而繞，此水也非凡水，而是天一神水，繞著這座大山。
我驀然看見一位老婆婆，拿著洗衣板，在洗東西，我心中很好奇，此地界是天仙境界，天人穿天衣，不染塵垢，豈用洗濯？
我趨前看老婆婆洗什麼？一見大駭，老婆婆洗的竟然是人的腸子，腸子很多結了一塊一塊骯髒的東西，腥臭之味與原有的栴檀妙香，大迴其異。
我聞之欲嘔吐。
老婆婆回頭看著我，也不訝異，數著洗刮的東西，說：
「這一塊是我慢。」
「這一塊是嫉妒。」
「這一塊是譭謗。」
「這一塊是………。」
我掩鼻，問：「婆婆，你洗的腸子是誰的？」
老婆婆瞪我一眼，也不回答我，她指一指我的身旁，我往自己身旁一瞧，目瞪口呆，原來是我一位相熟的弟子現了身，已被開膛剖腹，腸子流了出來，老婆婆洗的正是我弟子的腸子。
我差一點暈了過去。
老婆婆說：「想要即身成佛，往昔所造諸罪業，就要洗得乾乾淨淨，否則，習性未除盡，仍然是有漏，渾身發臭，成個什麼佛？臭穢佛是嗎？你要好好的警惕自己及告誡諸弟子了。」
「婆婆是誰？」我問。
老婆婆化身走向虛空，頭戴鳳冠，身披霞衣，左手仙桃，右手仙拂，正是不折不扣瑤池金母（仙王）也。
我頂禮金母，淚如雨下。
金母說：「乾淨就好了，哭什麼哭！」
我這一嚇，從三昧中出定。
眼中仍然含著感激的淚水，從此，我知道我是最卑微的人了。
The Old Lady Who Washes and Scrubs Intestines
Written by Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Cheng Yew Chung
Edited by Jason Yu
www.tbtts.org
I would enter into samadhi through meditation whenever I was free during my retreat at Leaf Lake. Once, I found myself inside a huge mountain. The mountain was certainly anything but ordinary because there was a sandalwood forest by it, and also a wonderful fragrance permeating in the air whenever the wind was blowing. Spheres of light of different sizes appeared from the mountain, with some as large as car tires, some the size of lotus flowers, and others as small as peas. These spheres of light were flying inside the mountain. I flew into a magnificent city, feeling extremely peaceful and soothing in my mind and body.
I saw a pure stream encircling the foot of the mountain, whose water is nothing like the ordinary water we know, for this water is the heavenly divine water.
I noticed an old lady cleaning some stuff with her washing board. I was curious. The place belongs to the heavenly realm, where divine beings wear heavenly garments that cannot be tainted. So why is there a need to wash clothes?
I approached the old lady to see what she was washing. What I saw was shocking. The old lady was scrubbing human intestines choked with clumps of hardened waste, whose awful stench was a contrast to the wonderful sandalwood scent in the air.
The odor made me want to vomit.
Seemingly unperturbed, the old lady turned her head and looked right at me, and uttered these words while she kept counting the stuff she was scrubbing, ”This piece is pride. This piece is envy. This one is slander. This one is…”
I covered my nose, and asked, “Old lady, whose intestines are you scrubbing?”
The old lady stared at me and said nothing. Instead she pointed in the direction beside me, and I turned my head, and to my astonishment, I saw a disciple whom I knew very well, whose intestines spilled out of an opened abdominal wound. The old lady was scrubbing the intestines of my disciple.
I almost fainted at the sight.
The old lady said, “To attain buddhahood in this very body, all karmic transgression of the past must be cleansed. Otherwise, if the habitual pattern of the individual is not eradicated, he or she is still contaminated, whose body will smell, so what buddhahood can anyone attain? A stinky buddha? You should take caution of this and admonish all your disciples.”
“Grand lady, may I know your identity?” I asked.
The oid lady transformed herself and walked towards the sky above, wearing a phoenix crown and dressed in numinous celestial clothes; her left hand held a peach while her right held a divine duster. She was none other than the Golden Mother of the Jade Pond (Lord of the Immortals).
I bowed to the Golden Mother, my tears flowing.
The Golden Mother said, “Once cleansed, all is well. There is no reason to cry.”
With this, I was jolted out of my meditative samadhi.
Tears of gratitude filled my eyes, and from that moment on I knew that I am humble before all creation.
