Master Yin Guang: The Stone Bridge Avalokitesvara
Yongchun County (“Ever Spring”) of Fujian Province is famous for its majestic peaks and gorges, and its simple folk customs. Praised for generations as the Peach Blossom Spring (metaphor for utopia) of real life. Ten miles east of the county is a place called Dongguan, which neighbors Nan’an County of Quanzhou City. There the river — a thousand feet wide — cuts across the mountain road. During the Song Dynasty, a stone bridge was built for the benefit of all who wished to cross. However, as the river flowed rapidly, the stone bridge often collapsed during storms. Thus, the bridge had to be restored every few decades to a hundred years. As the locals were faithful Buddhists, they build a pavilion in the middle of the bridge where they made offerings to a holy image of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva — thereby allowing all pedestrians to plant good roots of Dharma.
During the 34th year of Qing Emperor Gaungxu, Yongchun county was beset by flooding, and the stone bridge did not survive. Near the entrance of the bridge was the home of a shopkeeper surnamed Chen, a faithful Buddhist, then in his fifties. During one of the fearsome storms, when he was asleep, he heard loud knocking at his door and someone shouting for him to quickly save the bridge’s Avalokitesvara statue. Awakened by the commotion, and with the pleas sounding ever more desperate, he quickly rushed to his door only to discover that there was no one there. As his gaze turned to the bridge, which was then on the verge of being washed away, Chen braved the wind and rain, and rushed onto the bridge pavilion to save the Avalokitesvara statue. Just as he carried the Bodhisattva to safety, the bridge’s center collapsed behind him. Chen was forever astonished by this event, and often said, “I have no idea where I got the courage to do what I did, it was surely due to the powers of the gods and spirits.”
As the father of Upasaka Li Yuan Xian had made a fortune in South East Asia, he was able to support his passion for philanthropy. Together, he and a few fellow expats donated to restore the bridge. However, just three years later, the bridge was damaged again by another storm. The local people thus moved the Avalokitesvara statue to a nearby temple. As the following years were beset by chaos and conflict, no one had time to restore the bridge. Later, when the mother of Li Yuan Xian, Madam Huang, was burning incense at the temple, she felt a great sadness at the dilapidated state of the bridge, and resolved to restore it once more. That night, she saw in her dreams Avalokitesvara in resplendent golden form, who said to her,
“Now it is up to you to restore this bridge for me as an offering. You must quickly realize this vow, and your descendants shall have their blessings augmented.”
As the heart of the Bodhisattva seeks only to benefit others, all who see the holy images and statues will have the virtuous seeds of Bodhi planted within their hearts. Thus, the Bodhisattva displayed spiritual powers to encourage her to restore the bridge as an offering. Madam Huang then diligently fundraised everywhere, and the restoration was finally completed several years later. The local people recorded this deed by engraving it onto a plaque, and the Bodhisattva was once again enshrined in the center pavilion of the stone bridge. Afterwards, the number of pedestrians burning incense at the pavilion increased greatly.
— From the Collected Works of Master Yin Guang (1861–1940)《印光法師文鈔增廣卷四-永春重修東關橋觀音靈感記》
