民逃难工免薪

乙酉一百有六岁。粤北已陷。被日寇占据。逃难来寺者甚多。初食饭粥。后食木薯粉。在乱兵万难之际。公自民国卅二年。由李汉魂诸公送驻锡云门山大觉寺。百废俱兴。现虽时局不安。仍进行修建工程。而木泥瓦等匠人。亦暂不领工资。

宣化偈曰：

离乱兴工倍艰巨。更加难民增负担。
愿同甘苦与患难。再奇工者不支钱。
　

Witnessing people fleeing from trouble; workers forego wages

In 1945, the Master was one-hundred-and-six. Northern Canton Province had been invaded by and fallen to the Japanese. People fled the stricken areas, and came in large numbers to the monasteries. At first, everyone ate rice gruel, and later on just potato flour. During this very difficult period of chaos and military action, the Master had been escorted by General Li Han Yun and others to Ta Chueh (Great Enlightenment) Monastery on Yun Men (Cloud Gate) Mountain in the thirty-second year of the Republic (1944). He began to take care of the previously neglected monastery, and despite the unpeaceful times, he still went ahead with reconstruction projects. Bricklayers, stonemasons, and carpenters who were temporarily at the monastery donated their labor.

The gatha says:
Despite the chaos, the work began amidst redoubled vicissitudes.
The Master continued to aid the people; his heavy burden increased.
They vowed to undergo sweetness and suffering and those difficult times together.
What is more, the workers there did not ask for wages.