Visiting the Abbot's Chamber of Eung, the Zen Master訪應禪師方丈
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) 東國李相國集 · Yi Gyubo · Compiled 1241 (Goryeo, 28th year of King Gojong); revised and enlarged 1251 · 3 passages · 84 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 13 The collected writings of Yi Gyubo of Goryeo, gathered and cut in woodblock by his son Yi Ham in 1241 and revised and enlarged by his grandson Yi Ikbae in 1251. It holds poems and rhapsodies, memorials and reports sent up to the king, records written for temples and pagodas, stele and tomb inscriptions, letters and prefaces, and the state letters that passed to and from the Mongols during the invasions. The Lay of King Dongmyeong, which sings the founder of Goguryeo, stands in volume 3 of the first collection, and the daily life of a man who called himself the White Cloud Layman — with his wine, his zither and his verse — fills the later collection. The book closes with the last poem he wrote as his eyes failed and he laid down the brush, and with the dirge and tomb inscription others made for him after his death.
1First Poem
居士皤然鬢欲霜。尋僧訪寺度年光。世間只有禪公室。每到深斟大道漿。
This layman's temple hair is grizzled, about to turn to frost,
and he passes the years seeking out monks and seeking out temples.
In all the world there is only the Zen master's room,
where each time I go he pours deep the wine of the Great Way.
2Second Poem
詩情淡薄渾無味。官况闌珊自少歡。時訪懶融還懶話。靑熒燈畔睡蒲團。
My feeling for poetry is thin and has no savor at all,
and official life is withered, so of itself there is little joy.
At times I visit Lan Rong (懶融), yet am too lazy to talk,
and doze on the rush mat beside the bluish lamp.
3Third Poem
蒲團睡熟落冠巾。空室寥寥不見人。更坐觀心融萬想。烱然明月自無塵。
Deep asleep on the rush mat, my cap and headcloth fall away;
the empty room is still, and no one is to be seen.
I sit up again and watch my mind, melting away its myriad thoughts,
and the clear bright moon is of itself without a speck of dust.