Moonpointer : Buddhist Vegan Fellowship

黄牛皈依
Yellow Cow Took ThreeFold Refuges (21st Wonder)

老和尚（岁次己酉七十岁）运经到腾冲寓万寿寺时，正在与提督张松林坐谈的时候，忽一黄牛奔至座前，跪下，双目流泪，随后牛主杨胜昌率领多人到寺，要将牛牵回屠杀。
While Venerable Xuyun (around 70 years of age) was at Teng Chong Yu Wan Shou Moastery chatting with Prefect Zhang Song Lin, an ox suddenly rushed to the front of Venerable Xuyun, kneeled down and burst into tears. Shortly, the owner of the cow, Yang Sheng Chang, who was leading many people, arrived at the monastery, wanting to recapture the cow for the slaughterhouse to kill her.

老和尚向牛说：‘汝想逃生须皈依三宝。’
Venerable Xuyun said to the cow, “If you want to escape, you have to take Threefold Refuges (in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha).”

牛点头，老和尚即说三皈依，令牛起立，驯服好像人一样。老和尚拿钱给牛主抵牛命，牛主不受，大为感动，发心皈依，誓改行业，并吃长素。
The cow nodded. Venerable Xuyun thus presided a refuge-taking ceremony for the cow. After the ceremony, Venerable Xuyun asked the cow to stand on its feet, and she looked just as tamely as a human should be. Venerable Xuyun was about to compensate the cow-owner with money in exchange for the cow’s life. Deeply moved by what he witnessed, Yang refused to take the money and vowed to take the Threefold Refuge too. He also changed his profession, and turned into a lifetime vegetarian.

The 48 Encounters of Venerable Xuyun : Yellow Cow Took ThreeFold Refuges (21st Wonder)

English translation is approximate.