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Statement of thanks for the exalted investiture, fifth time五度謝封崇狀

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 · 1 passages · 152 Chinese characters · reading time 1.6 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 30 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.

云云。命出楓宸。光生奈苑。撫分涯而非祿。對形影以猶慙。伏念某生稟悾恫侗。幼從剃度。禪門遊刃。本未至於恢恢。選席吹竽。僅免逃於一一。徒以因緣之幸。累叨優渥之私。上不能荷擔宗乘。下不能諭掖後學。動有啞羊之愧。方思疲馬之休。豈意聖衷。復崇師禮。特降褒封之典。遽加懿太之名。帑賜便蕃。天香薰馥。仰揆推尊之意。第深感戴之誠。山重之恩。一生難報。嶽呼之懇。萬歲爲期。無任云云。

And so forth. The command came out of the palace, and light shines upon the temple. Feeling along the brim of my portion, it is not a stipend for me to take; and facing my own form and shadow, I am ashamed indeed.

Prostrate, I consider that So-and-so was born with foolishness for his portion and shaved his head while young. My plying of the blade in the school of Seon never came to anything ample from the first; and making a show of piping at the place of selection, I barely escaped being run off when each thing was questioned one by one.

Only by the good fortune of karmic ties have I again and again presumed to be visited with ample grace. Above, I could not shoulder the Buddha's law; below, I could not admonish and hold fast those who learn after me; and so at every move there was the shame of the mute sheep, and I was just thinking of the weary horse's rest.

How could I have thought that the sovereign's heart would again exalt the rites due a preceptor, sending down especially the favor of a praising investiture and adding all at once a fair and great name? What is bestowed from the storehouse is ample, and the fragrance of heaven blows thick.

Looking up, I weigh the purpose by which you exalt me, and the sincerity that rises in me out of sheer feeling runs deep. A grace heavy as a mountain is hard to repay in one lifetime; and so with the earnestness of those who cried ten thousand years upon the mountain, I look for ten thousand years for you.

Interlinear notes 1

除臣後以狀行

After the character 臣 was left out, it was sent up as a statement (狀).

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