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Edict Bestowing on the Late Great Seon Master, Abbot of Bogyeongsa, the Posthumous Title of National Preceptor Wonjin故寶鏡寺住持大禪師贈諡圓眞國師敎書官誥 敎書

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 · 147 Chinese characters · reading time 1.4 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 34 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。夫至人之境。生不以爲樂。死不以爲戚。褒之不以爲榮。貶之不以爲辱。希夷湛寂。非強名所到也。然昔者佛氏之出也。爲世所尊。故曰世尊。爲天人所師。故曰天人師。且佛之德。非以此豐替。而其稱謂如此者。蓋名隨實著。出於自然故也。師則道全德備。表儀當世。故追崇以國師之名。夫王師者。特一王之攸範。國師者。迺一國之所資。實旣充中。名可逃外。宜揚厥號。永耀方來。云云。

And so forth.

Now in the realm of one who has reached the utmost, he does not rejoice though he live nor grieve though he die, does not count praise a glory nor count being lowered a shame. That clear and quiet place, which is not heard though one listen and not seen though one look, is no place for a name put on by force to reach.

Yet of old, when the Buddha came forth into the world, because the world exalted him he was called the World-Honoured One; and because he became teacher of gods and men he was called the Teacher of Gods and Men. Again, though the Buddha's virtue does not grow or shrink by that name, the naming of him was thus because in the main a name appears following upon the reality and comes forth of itself.

The master's Way was whole and his virtue complete, and he became the pattern of his age; therefore I exalt him after his death with the name of National Preceptor. Now a Royal Preceptor is one who is pattern to a single sovereign only, while a National Preceptor is one upon whom the whole country leans. The reality being already full within, can the name run away outside? It is right to send his title abroad and let it shine long into the ages to come. And so forth.

‹ Patent of appointment conferring the posthumous title National Preceptor Wonjin upon the late Great Zen Master, abbot of BogyeongsaContentsPatent of Office Making Choe Yugong Grand Master of Upright Counsel, Senior General of the Heungwi Guard, and Director of the Treasury ›Listen to this piece