八哥鸟念弥陀

壬子七十三岁。公回滇后。即开办佛教分会。在文昌宫开成立大会。请了尘师设分会于贵州。藏喇嘛来者甚众。拟举办佛教学校。布道团。医院等慈善事业。有一人送一八哥鸟放生。能言。初食肉。皈依学念佛。吃素。一日被鹰捉去。

宣化偈曰：

飞至空中仍念佛。尽此报身生极乐。
胡为万物之灵者。人不如鸟恋娑婆。　

Liberating a mynah that recited Amitabha

In 1912, when the Master was seventy-three years old, after returning to Yunnan Province, he began to set up branches of the Buddhist Association. At Wen Chang Hall, he convened a large meeting, at which he asked Dharma Master Liao Ch'en (Ending the Dust) to establish a branch in Kueichow Province. A large number of Tibetan Lamas took part, and it was decided to organize Buddhist schools, groups for spreading the Dharma, and hospitals, among other means of performing philanthropic works. Someone donated a mynah bird, which was to be set free. The bird could talk, and at first ate f1esh; but after receiving the Refuges, it learned to recite the Buddha's name, and became a vegetarian. One day, it was seized and carried off by an eagle.

The gatha says:
Carried off, flying through the air, it still recited the Buddha's name.
At the end of this retribution body, it was born in Ultimate Bliss.
If people are the magic essence of the ten thousand things,
Then how can we measure up to this bird if we linger on in the Saha World?