A Record of the First Building of the Arhat Hall (阿羅漢殿) at Uiwang Temple (醫王寺)醫王寺。始創阿羅漢殿記。
昔者。我佛氏之弟子有五百大士。初得阿羅漢道。便自以爲究竟滅度。故閱華嚴鹿苑方等般若四時。猶未證大法。至法華日輪亭午時。開佛知見。入大乘藏。則五百聖師於天台法門。爲有因矣。今夫距京師若干步。有古殘寺。曰醫王。天台老宿惠拔來居之。悉修廢更新。非復舊醫王也。宗門上匠大禪師覺公來遊。方禮慈氏殿。見五百尊像散頓陬隙。霾侵塵蝕。丹靑漫暗。遂召拔公。相與拂拭。異眼而同泣。仰弔尊容。四手而一心。共尋遺逸。課其所未得。則凡二十有七幀也。拔公謂禪師曰。尊像之在此。歷祀爲塵埃所蔽。雖常住如吾輩者。猶不得而見之。至禪師始見而發之。此豈無待而然耶。禪師亦噓戲良久。尋募工繪畫。補其所未得者。其古像則崔侍郞光宰請緝理之。師欣然許之。其理之也。悉以水類洗。垢落色見。宛然稍新。凡緣飾無不新之。皆軸以檀香。并畫主佛監齋使者像。拔公特新其殿以迎之。是寺於是始有五百聖師之殿。此豈聖師與法門因緣之致耶。初禪師命工畫尊容。夢有人以所畫像授之。師先受一像視之。乃頭陀像也。明日。畫工以功畢來告。果先授一幀。髮垂過額。其夢中所見也。又有一尼請於崔公得一幀。欲補還之而未爾。夫人未知尼之請去。搜尋未得。夜夢一僧來告曰。我在尼院。夫人覺而異之。訪於尼院。果得焉。噫。人苟有篤誠。則至人之應物也。如符合吻交。若此其速。庸可議乎。且尊像之久沒也。我大禪師。始見而發之。乃至補足其闕。則譬之爲山。幾已穹然矣。其從而築之。增至岌嶪者。拔公崔公之謂也。託斯文而欲勒此功山者。居士春卿也。居士亦儒衣而學步止觀者也。合是而能事畢矣。若他日得見五百普明如來。此豈非今日之因歟。明昌六年月日記。
Of old, among the disciples of our Buddha there were five hundred great masters. At first they got the way of the arhat and straightway held themselves to have passed into extinction (滅度) once for all. Therefore, though they passed through the four times of the Flower Garland (華嚴) and the Deer Park (鹿苑), the Expanded (方等) and the Prajñā (般若), they still did not realize the great Law. Only when the sun of the Lotus (法華) came to midday did they open the Buddha's knowledge and vision and enter the treasury of the Great Vehicle; and if so, then the five hundred holy masters (聖師) have a bond with the Dharma gate of Tiantai (天台).
Now a few paces from the capital there is an old wasted temple called 「Uiwang」. Hyebal (惠拔), an elder (老宿) of Tiantai, came and lived there and mended all that had fallen down and made it new, so that it is no longer the old Uiwang temple.
The great Zen master Duke Gak (覺公), an eminent craftsman of the school, came roaming there, and as he was doing reverence in the Hall of Maitreya (慈氏殿) he saw that the five hundred venerable images were set scattered in corners and crannies, encroached upon by the dusty rain and worm-eaten with grime, their colors grown dim. He called Duke Bal at last, and together they shook and wiped them; and their eyes were different but their minds the same, and they wept together. Looking up, they mourned before the venerable faces, and with four hands but one mind they sought out together what was missing; and when they reckoned what they could not find, it came to twenty-seven scrolls.
Duke Bal said to the Zen master: 「The venerable images have been here, hidden by the dust for many years, so that even such as we who are always in residence had not seen them. It is with you, master, that they have first been seen and brought out: how should this be so without something awaited?」 And the Zen master too sighed and lamented a long while.
Presently they gathered craftsmen and had paintings made and filled in what could not be found. As for the old images, Vice Minister Choe Gwangjae (崔侍郞光宰) asked to have them put in order, and the master gladly allowed it. In putting them in order they washed them all with something of the nature of water, so that the grime came off and the colors appeared and they were plainly somewhat renewed. There was nothing whose edging and adornment was not made new, and all were given rollers of sandalwood; and together with these were painted the images of the principal Buddha (主佛) and of the Overseer of the Refectory (監齋使者). Duke Bal made that hall new on purpose and received them there. And so this temple came for the first time to have a hall of the five hundred holy masters: how should this not be the working of the bond between the holy masters and the Dharma gate?
At the beginning, when the Zen master ordered the craftsman to paint the venerable images, he dreamed that a certain man gave him the painted images. The master received one image first and looked at it, and it was the image of an ascetic (頭陀). The next day the painter came to report that he had finished his work, and he did indeed give one scroll first; and its hair hung down past the brow, which was what he had seen in the dream.
Again, a certain nun asked Duke Choe and got one scroll, and he meant to fill in a replacement and give it back but could not. His wife did not know that the nun had asked for it and taken it, and though she searched she could not find it. In a dream at night a monk came and told her, 「I am at the nun's temple.」 The wife woke and thought it strange, and asked at the nun's temple, and she did indeed find it.
Ah, if a man truly has deep sincerity, then the answering of the Utmost One to things is like tallies fitting together and lips meeting, and so swift as this: how is it to be argued about?
Again, the venerable images lay long buried, and our great Zen master first saw them and brought them out and came at last to filling in what was missing: to liken it to the making of a hill, it was nearly towering already. Those who heaped up after him and added to it even to the high and the steep are Duke Bal and Duke Choe. The one who asked that this writing carve this hill of merit is the hermit Chungyeong. The hermit too is one who wears the robe of the Confucian and studies cessation and contemplation (止觀). Putting these together, all that could be done is complete. And if hereafter we come to behold the five hundred as Pumyeong Tathāgata (普明如來), how should this not be the bond of today? Written on a certain day of a certain month in the sixth year of Myeongchang (明昌).