A Record of Gazing at the Sea from Gyeyang桂陽望海志
路四出桂之徼。唯一面得通於陸。三面皆水也。始予謫守是州。環顧水之蒼然浩然者。疑入島嶼中。悒悒然不樂。輒低首閉眼不欲見也。及二年夏六月。除拜省郞。將計日上道。以復于京師。則向之蒼然浩然者。皆可樂也。於是凡可以望海者。無不遊踐。始於萬日寺樓上望之。大舶點波心。僅若鳧鴨之游泳者。小舟則如人入水微露其頭者。帆蓆之去。僅類人揷高帽而行者。群山衆島。杳然相望。有屺者峐者。跂者伏者。脊出者䯻擢者。中穿如穴者。首凸如傘頭者。寺僧來佐望。輒以手指點之。島曰。彼紫燕也。高燕也。麒麟也。山曰。彼京都之鵠嶺也。彼昇天府之鎭也。龍山也。仁州之望也。通津之望也。歷歷而數。如指諸掌。是日予甚樂焉。與與遊者觴之。乘醉而反。後數日。遊明月寺亦如之。然明月頗有山之掩翳者。不若萬日之豁敞也。後數日。復循山而北。竝海而東。觀潮水之激薄與海市之變怪。或乘馬。或步行。稍憊而後還焉。與遊者某某人。皆携壺縱之。嗚呼。水向者之水也。心向者之心也。以向之所忌見者。今反爲嗜觀。豈以得區區一官之故歟。心吾心也。不能自制。使因時貿易之如此。其於一死生齊得喪。得可冀乎。後尙可警故志之。
The outskirts of Gyeyang, whence the roads go out to the four quarters, open upon the land on one side only, and three sides are all water. When I first came banished to this district and became its magistrate, I looked round at the water, green and far off, and doubted whether I had not come into the midst of an island, and heavily I was not glad. I would bow my head and shut my eyes and not look at it.
When the sixth month of the summer of the second year came and I was appointed a Gentleman of the Secretariat (省郞) and was to count the days and set out and return to the capital, then all that had been green and far off before was worth delighting in. And so there was no place from which the sea could be looked at that I did not roam and tread.
I began to look out from the top of the pavilion of Manil temple (萬日寺). A great ship is like a dot in the midst of the waves, hardly more than wild ducks and tame ducks swimming; a little boat is like a man gone into the water with only his head showing a little. One that goes with its sail up is hardly more than a man going along with a tall hat stuck on his head. The host of hills and the many islands look far across at one another: some are bald and some have trees; some stand on tiptoe and some lie prone; some have the ridge of the back standing out and some have a topknot drawn up; some are pierced through the middle like a hole, and some have a head bulging like the top of a parasol.
A monk of the temple came and helped me to look out and pointed suddenly with his hand. Of the islands he said: 「That is Jayeon isle (紫燕島), that is Goyeon isle (高燕島), that is Girin isle (麒麟島)」; and of the hills, 「That is Gongnyeong (鵠嶺) of the capital; that is the guardian mountain of Seungcheon prefecture (昇天府), and that is Yongsan (龍山), and that the guardian mountain of Inju (仁州), and that the guardian mountain of Tongjin (通津)」 — telling them off plainly and plainly, as though he were pointing at his own palm. That day I was exceedingly glad. I drank with those who roamed with me and came back drunk.
Some days later my roaming at Myeongwol temple (明月寺) was the same. But Myeongwol temple has a good deal hidden by the hills and is not so broadly open as Manil temple.
Some days later I went again northward along the hills and eastward beside the sea, and saw the dashing of the tide and the strange changes of the mirage. Now riding and now walking, I came back when I was a little tired. Those who roamed with me were such and such, and all of them carried wine bottles and took their pleasure to the full.
Ah, the water is the same water as before, and the mind the same mind as before. What I shrank from looking at before I now look at with delight instead: is it because I have got one paltry office? The mind is my own mind, and yet I cannot restrain it myself and let it be changed like this with the times: can I hope to come to seeing dying and living as one and making gain and loss even? It may still serve as a warning afterward, and so I write it down.