Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 14

The Night of the Offering Rite at Manbo Hall (萬寶殿)萬寶殿醮夜

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 · 2 passages · 56 Chinese characters · reading time 0.6 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 14 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

星斗森芒璧月娟。嬰香齊點引神仙。微臣自負吭音滑。欲讀淸詞徹九天。

The stars shine thick and the round moon is fair; incense is set about and kindled all at once to draw the immortals down. Your lowly servant takes pride in the smoothness of his voice, and would read the pure text so that it pierces the ninth heaven.

2Second Poem

聖主齋心已格天。未斟明水福如川。玉壇禮罷迴宸仗。拜受黃封雨露宣。

The holy king has purified his heart, and it has already reached to heaven, so that before the bright water (明水) is poured the blessing comes like a stream. The rite at the Jade Altar (玉壇) done, and the king's regalia withdrawn, we bow and receive the yellow seal, and he spreads out a grace like rain and dew.