Preface補閑集序
文者蹈道之門，不涉不經之語。然欲鼓氣肆言，竦動時聽，或涉於險怪。況詩之作，本乎比興諷喩，故必寓託奇詭，然後其氣壯，其意深，其辭顯，足以感悟人心，發揚微旨，終歸於正。若剽竊刻畵誇耀靑紅，儒者固不爲也。雖詩家有琢鍊四格，所取者，琢句鍊意而已。今之後進，尙聲律章句，琢字必欲新，故其語生，鍊對必以類，故其意拙。雄傑老成之風，由是喪矣。我本朝以人文化成，賢儁間出，贊揚風化。光宗顯德五年，始闢春闈，擧賢良文學之士，玄鶴來儀。時則王融、趙翼、徐熙、金策，才之雄者也。越景顯數代間，李夢游、柳邦憲以文顯，鄭倍傑、高凝以詞賦進，崔文憲公沖命世興儒，吾道大行。至於文廟時，聲名文物，粲然大備。當時冢宰崔惟善，以王佐之才，著述精妙。平章事李精恭、崔奭，參政文正、李靈幹、鄭惟産，學士金行瓊、盧坦，濟濟比肩，文王以寧。厥後朴寅亮、崔思齊、思諒、李䫨、金亮鑑、魏繼廷、林元通、黃瑩、鄭文、金緣、金商祐、金富軾、權適、高唐愈、金富轍、富佾、洪瓘、印份、崔允儀、劉羲、鄭知常、蔡寶文、朴浩、朴椿齡、林宗庇、芮樂仝、崔諴、金精、文淑公父子、吳先生兄弟、李學士仁老、兪文安公升旦、金貞肅公仁鏡、李文順公奎報、李承制公老、金翰林克己、金諫議君綏、李史館允甫、陳補闕澕、劉沖基、李百順、兩司成咸淳、林椿、尹于一、孫得之、安淳之，金石間作，星月交輝。漢文唐詩，於斯爲盛。然而古今諸名賢，編成文集者，唯止數十家，自餘名章秀句，皆湮沒無聞。李學士仁老略集成篇，命曰破閑，晋陽公以其書未廣，命予續補。强拾廢忘之餘，得近體若干聯，或至於浮屠兒女輩，有一二事可以資於談笑者，其詩雖不嘉，幷錄之。共一部分爲三卷，而未暇雕板，今侍中上柱國崔公，追述先志，訪採其書，謹繕寫而進。
Writing is the gate by which a man treads the Way, so it does not touch words that go against the classics (經). Yet when a man wishes to rouse his force and speak without restraint, and to startle the ears of his age, he sometimes strays into the perilous and the strange.
How much more so with the making of poems. Its root lies in satire and awakening through comparison (比) and evocation (興). A poem must lodge its words in the strange and the odd, and only then is its force strong, its meaning deep, its wording clear, enough to move and waken the hearts of men, to draw out a hidden intent, and at the last to come back to what is right. To steal from others, to carve and chisel, to flaunt the blue and the red — a scholar has never done such things.
The poets (詩家) speak of four grades of polishing and tempering (琢鍊), yet what is worth taking is only this: polish the line and temper the meaning. Younger men now prize tone rules and set phrases. They polish their words and will have them new, so their language is raw. They temper their couplets and will match kind with kind, so their meaning is cramped. The air of the bold and the seasoned has been lost through this.
Our own dynasty accomplished its civilizing work through letters, and worthy and outstanding men came forth one after another to help and to spread its teaching. In the fifth year of Xiande, under Gwangjong, the spring examination hall was opened for the first time and worthy men of letters were chosen, and a black crane came and danced. At that time Wang Yung, Jo Ik, Seo Hui, and Kim Chaek were the strongest in talent.
In the several reigns that passed between Gyeongjong and Hyeonjong, Yi Mongyu and Yu Banghyeon became known for their prose, Jeong Baegeol and Go Eung came forward through lyric and rhapsody (詞賦), and Duke Munheon, Choe Chung, with talent to be renowned in his age, raised up Confucian learning, so that our Way was widely practiced.
By the time of Munjong, fame and letters were bright and fully in place. The chief minister of that day, Choe Yuseon, had the gifts of one who aids a king, and what he wrote was fine and subtle. The state councillors (平章事) Yi Jeonggong and Choe Seok, the vice councillors Mun Jeong (文正), Yi Yeonggan, and Jeong Yusan, and the academicians Kim Haenggyeong and No Tan stood shoulder to shoulder in throngs. This is the meaning of "King Wen was at peace because of them."
After them came Bak Illyang, Choe Saje, Choe Saryang, Yi Ja (李䫨), Kim Yanggam, Wi Gyejeong, Im Wontong, Hwang Yeong, Jeong Mun, Kim Yeon, Kim Sangu, Kim Busik, Gwon Jeok, Go Dangyu, Kim Bucheol, Kim Buil, Hong Gwan, In Bin, Choe Yunui, Yu Hui, Jeong Jisang, Chae Bomun, Bak Ho, Bak Chunnyeong, Im Jongbi, Ye Nakdong, Choe Ham, and Kim Jeong, and with them Duke Munsuk and his son, Master O and his brother, the academician Yi Illo, Duke Munan Yu Seungdan, Duke Jeongsuk Kim Ingyeong, Duke Munsun Yi Gyubo, Yi Gongno the royal secretary, Kim Geukgi of the Hallim, Kim Gunsu the grand master of remonstrance, Yi Yunbo the court historian (史館), Jin Hwa the rectifier of omissions (補闕), Yu Chunggi, Yi Baeksun, the two directors of studies (司成) Ham Sun and Im Chun, Yun Uil, Son Deukji, and An Sunji. They came forth between one another like metal and stone, and stars and moon shone together. The prose of Han and the poetry of Tang were at their height here.
Yet of all the famous and worthy men of old and of now, those whose writings were gathered into collections come to only some dozens of houses. All the rest, their famous pieces and their fine lines, lie buried and go unheard.
The academician Yi Illo gathered a rough collection into a book and called it Pahan (破閑). The Duke of Jinyang held that the book was not broad enough and commanded me to carry it on and fill it out. I forced myself to pick up what had been discarded and forgotten, and I got a number of couplets in the recent style. Sometimes I came even to monks and to women. If there was a thing or two in them that could furnish talk and laughter, I set the poem down as well, though it was not a fine one.
In all I divided the one work into three books, but I had no leisure to cut the blocks. Now Lord Choe, the chancellor and supreme pillar of state, has followed his late father's will and sought the book out, and so I have copied it with care and present it here.
時甲寅四月日。守太尉崔滋序。
The fourth month of the year gabin, on such a day. Preface (序) by Choe Ja, acting grand commandant.