Compassion To Animals.

[Shi Da Dao]

'There was another event worth recording. After my arrival at Wan-shou (Long Life) Monastery in Tengyue, while talking with Zhang Sun-lin in the hall, a dun cow which had escaped from its owner came in and knelt down, shedding tears, shortly followed by its owner. Yang Sheng-chung and others. I learned that Yang was a butcher and said to the cow, "if you want to flee for your life, you should take refuge in the Triple Gem." The cow nodded and I immediately taught the animal the Triple Refuge formula. After this I helped the cow up and it was most placid like a human being. I took out some money which I gave to its owner who, however, refused it. He was deeply moved by what he saw, swore that he would change his occupation and asked for his conversion to the Dharma. As he also became a vegetarian, Commander Zhang, who was deeply impressed by the man's transformation, recommended him for work in a shop.'

Empty Cloud - Xu Yun's Autobiography (Luk-Hunn): his 70th year (1909/10) - page 75.