Master Hsu Yun’s sacrifice of his finger to liberate his mother and to get her to Pure land:

His first act was to pray to Shakyamuni Buddha for the liberation of his mother whom he had never seen. Previously he had taken the vow to go to the monastery of Emperor Asoka at Ningpo to pay reverence to the Buddha Relics & to burn off there one of his fingers as his offering to the Buddha for her liberation.

¡ Each day he prostrated three thousand times and increased the number until he ached all over and was seriously ill. He became so weak that the chief monk did not approve of his burning a finger on account of the risk involved. The master burst into a flood of tears and finally the superintendent of the monastery and another monk agreed to assist him in fulfilling his vow.

¡ He was helped to the main hall where together with the assembly; he paid reverence to the Buddha, performed the ritual and recited the text of the rules of repentance and reform.

¡ He wrote later: "With singleness of mind, I repeated the Buddha's name and prayed Him to liberate my affectionate mother. At the beginning I felt pain, but as gradually my mind became pure, my awakening wisdom manifested clearly ... When my finger had burned off, I arose to bow down before the Buddha.

¡ I did not need others to support me and entirely forgot my illness.
¡ After walking unaided to present my thanks to the assembly, I returned to the sick bay.
¡ Everyone present was surprised at my transformation,
¡ and I moved out of the hut for sick monks."

or mi to fo,