Notice of the Monastic Assembly at Yongdam Temple (龍潭寺)龍潭寺叢林會榜
夫祖駕西來。心法之行乎中國尙矣。然猶未及於三韓。曁新羅王子道義國師航海入唐。求法於地藏和尙。得而東還。遂入定陳田寺。蜜傳心印。然後禪轍始輾于東土矣。及我太祖肇基王業。篤崇禪法。於是刱五百禪宇於中外。以處衲子。間歲設談禪大會於京師。所以鎭北兵也。九山釋子。先其會一年。各以其山門。占斷外方之伽藍。而開法會涉冬節。是之謂叢林。按禪記梵云盆陁婆那。此言叢林。因祖師舍那婆斯所住。故名之也。今之叢林。豈其遺法耶。於是會也。長老輩相與硺磨志行。研覃心學。申之整頓宗門規繩。凜凜乎不可犯也。是大莊嚴論所云如是衆僧。乃衆智之叢林。一切善門。集在其中者是已。然叢林所嚮。其主人所以應接供奉。繁夥浩大。似不堪支。故凡住其寺者皆難之。況迦智於九山爲大。而衲子之輩林會霧集。濟濟如也哉。若東道之禮。有不如法。則年少沙彌輩。呵責萬端。有不可言者。由是益難之。今丙戌叢林之會于龍潭也。住公湛伊。篤實人也。自以爲凡爲浮屠者。其於營善作福也。雖遊行四方。勸學弘道。猶欲爲之。何況居國伽藍。得致同門學子之肯來一集。是天幸也。何有大不可。而輒形猒怠之色耶。於是罄倒儲㣥。以充其費。雖至下座沙彌。敬若大賓。故學者之輩。如入勝房樂土。及其去也。尙眷眷焉不能無桑下之戀矣。自某月日開堂。至某月日罷會。其會上禪子若干人。具書于左。以爲之標表也。
Now since the vehicle of the Patriarchs came from the West, the Law of the Mind has long been practiced in China. Yet it had not yet reached the Three Han. Doui, National Preceptor (道義國師), a prince of Silla, crossed the sea and entered Tang and sought the Law of the Reverend Dizang (地藏和尙), and having got it he returned eastward. At last he went into Jinjeon Temple (陳田寺) and settled in his place and handed down the seal of mind in secret. Only after that did the wheel of the Seon vehicle begin to turn in our land.
When our Great Progenitor first opened the foundation of the royal work, he upheld the Law of Seon with thick faith. So he set up five hundred Seon halls in the capital and the provinces for monks to dwell in, and every other year he held a Great Assembly of Seon Discourse (談禪大會) in the capital, which was to quell the soldiers of the north. The monks of the Nine Mountains, a year ahead of that assembly, would each take a provincial temple for their own mountain gate and open an assembly of the Law and pass the winter there; and this is called a monastic grove (叢林). Looking at the Record of Seon (禪記), in Sanskrit it is called bundhavana, and this is rendered as monastic grove, named from the place where the Patriarch Sanavasa dwelt. Is not today's monastic grove perhaps what remains of that law?
At this assembly the elders grind and polish one another's purpose and conduct and dig deep into the learning of the mind, and they set right once more the rules of the school, so that it is bracing and none dares to transgress it. This is what the Treatise of Great Adornment (大莊嚴論) means when it says, "Such a company of monks is the monastic grove of the wisdoms, and every gate of goodness is gathered within it."
Yet in the place to which a monastic grove turns, the host's business of receiving and upholding and attending is so troublesome and many and great and broad that it seems it cannot be borne. And so those who dwell in such a temple all hold it a hard thing. How much more at Gajisan (迦智山), the great one among the Nine Mountains, where the monks gather like a forest and come crowding like mist, its flourishing being such as this. If the courtesies of playing host are not done according to the law, then the young novices will have ten thousand reproaches, some of which cannot bear to be put into words. For this reason they hold it harder still.
Now the monastic grove assembly of the Byeongsul year was opened at Yongdam. Master Dami (湛伊公), who dwells there, is a man of thick sincerity and truth. He thought to himself thus: "Now for one who has become a monk, in the doing of good works and the making of merit, even one in the condition of wandering the four quarters urging men to learn and spreading the Way is still willing to attempt it. How much more so I, who live in a temple of the state and have come to have the students of my own gate gladly come and gather in one seat — this is a good fortune given by heaven. What great hindrance should there be that I should show a face of distaste and idleness?" So he emptied out all his stored granaries to meet the expense of it. Down to the novices in the lowest seats he treated them with reverence as though receiving great guests. And so the students felt as if they had entered a fine chamber and a joyous land; and even when they departed they could not but be unable to forget it, longing for old affection beneath the mulberry tree.
On a certain day of a certain month the hall was opened, and on a certain day of a certain month the assembly came to an end. The several Seon guests who were admitted to that assembly are set down in full at the left as a marker.
Interlinear notes 1
入定 — This may also be read as entering into meditative absorption (禪定). Since the temple's name comes directly after it, it has been read as "entered and settled in his place." — Translator