Stele inscription for the late Great Zen Master Jeongin, royal preceptor resident at Hwajangsa, posthumously invested as National Preceptor Jeonggak故華藏寺住持王師定印大禪師追封靜覺國師碑銘
夫道本自如。孰抑揚是。要之世與人而已矣。蓋人能弘道。非道弘人。人固難得。而閱千百世。儻一値焉。則世與人二者相須。而後道行焉。況道之最者曰禪。非若膠於文句者。而直見自家所有一靈印耳。降及叔世。妄執鉗固。不知佛是吾物。捨而之外。認賊爲子者多矣。道不終否。世將復古。於是乎有眞人出焉。與道吻合。得正法眼藏。陶鑄生靈者。繄我國師是已。國師姓田氏。諱志謙。字讓之。系出靈光郡太祖功臣雲騎將軍諱宗會。而光廟朝。擢第龍頭。官至樞密院使諱拱之之六代孫也。皇曾祖諱漑。檢校大子詹事。皇祖諱德普。大倉署令。皇考諱毅。檢校大子詹事。皇妣南宮氏。良醞令榮之女也。母夢梵僧至家請寄宿。因而有娠。及生。骨相峻爽。機神英邁。弱不好弄。常若有思念者。忽遇異僧曰。此子塵中無着處。師自是斷葷腥。年甫九歲。懇求出家。十一。就禪師嗣忠祝髮。明年。就金山寺戒壇受具。師天資警悟。淹貫外典。以此潤色。故凡於問對詞辯。捷疾如機發箭激。不可遏已。一時公卿名儒韻士。想望風彩。願與之交焉。自少已有宿望如此。明廟卽祚元年。始擧禪選。時內侍鄭仲壺掌選。夢神人告曰。明日得王者師。是日師中焉。舊諱學敦。是年。遊三角山。宿道峯寺。夢山神告曰。和尙名志謙。何用今名。遂改焉。大定己酉。始住登高寺。明昌四年。批除三重大師。七年。加禪師。泰和四年。又加大禪師。師旣名聞四方。凡內外有開禪會。輒請師主盟。師亦以荷擔宗乘。傳法度人爲己任。承安四年。移住郁錦寺。是年。進禮郡設禪會。請指南者。上命師赴焉。是會也。縣令李中敏夢。天人告曰。淨佛國土。何囹圄不空耶。及覺。遍體流汗。躬至獄門。罪無輕重。皆原之。聞者莫不驚歎。泰和戊辰。旱甚。上迎入內道場說法。至五日不雨。師憤之。乃禱佛曰。佛法不自行。須憑國主。今若不雨。靈應何存。無幾何。甘澍霶霈。時號和尙雨。師至孝。凡得檀施。苟有異饌。先送孀母。然後敢自食。一日聞母亡。遂於帝釋前禱曰。母若算窮。願以子壽代之。未幾。家僮馳報夫人已起。時以爲孝感所致。泰安辛未。移住國淸寺。崇慶二年。康王卽祚。循祖宗舊例。欲得釋門重望爲師。時晉康公當國。爲上遴選。凡於兩宗五敎。求可以承當大任者。無出師右。遂以師薦焉。上遣重臣。請行摳衣之禮。師上表固讓。上復遣使。敦諭至再三。師不獲已受請。上特遣上將軍盧元崇等兩使。就所寓普濟寺。備禮封崇。受冊訖。遂入大內。親受師禮。上以廣明寺近帝闕。請住焉。申以居頓寺爲本寺。充香火之費。秋八月。上不豫。師亦發背疽。門人等請禱。師厲色曰。上體不安。而子幸有疾。切欲移之身。汝將禱耶。上升遐。今上嗣位。以寧考師。復崇師禮。恩遇益縟。晉康公亦割捨愛子。剃度爲門人。其餘士大夫亦爾。門弟之盛。近古未之有也。貞祐五年。忽謂門人曰。吾起寒門。至爲王者師。於分足矣。豈可貪冒恩寵。久留輦轂耶。遂上書乞退甚篤。上不得已允之。以花藏寺境地淸勝。薪水贍足。請下安於此。將行也。晉康公邀餞。公出拜。親扶腋上階。及上道。贈寶馬。又遣門客等衛行。師雖在千里。上之眷意不已。屢遣近臣問安。其贐餉亦無虛月矣。下寺之十三年己丑六月十五日。震雷暴作。大石崩落。是日。師示微疾。七月二日。晨起盥洗。召門人玄源。裁書三道。囑國王及今相國晉陽公高僧松廣社主。告以長邁。寫訖良久曰。今日行未便。迨後日迺別。遂就寢至八日。忽起告衆曰。定光寂寂。慧日明明。法界塵寰。臍輪頓現。有僧問故人云。後夜月初明。吾將獨自行。作麽生是和尙獨行處。答曰。蒼海闊白雲閑。莫將毫髮着其間。言訖。叉手當胸。翛然坐逝。顔如傅粉。脣色丹潤。遠近無不奔赴瞻禮。上聞訃震悼。命近臣將作少監趙光就及日官等監護喪事。遂茶毗于寺之西岡。拾靈骨葬于登禪山之麓。仍降制贈諡靜覺國師。享年八十五。僧臘七十五。國師爲人。略無緣飾。因性循理而已。雖歷住大伽藍。每至齋時。先衆而出。手擎鉢立待。麤食淡羹。與衆均味。而未曾別開饌食。其精勤佛事。雖盛寒酷熱。略無欹傾倦怠之色。此皆老境所難而能行之。嗚呼。眞化身菩薩歟。其感應靈異之事。則雖或多焉。皆道境之細。而又恐後人以爲怪誕。故於此不載。門人大禪師廓雲等聞于上曰。師沒久。碑猶未立。是臣等所深疚。請爲文者鑱諸石。以永其傳。上命小臣文之。仍賜額曰某碑。臣未敢辭避。謹再拜銘之曰。
Now the Way is of itself just as it is — who should press it down or raise it up? In short it depends only upon the age and upon men. On the whole it is man who broadens the Way, not the Way that broadens man. Man is truly hard to come by: a thousand or a hundred generations must pass before one is perhaps met with once. And so it is only after the age and the man, these two, have waited for each other that the Way is practiced.
Still more, the foremost thing within the Way is called Zen. Unlike what clings to phrases and hardens there, it is simply the direct seeing of the one numinous seal held within one's own house. Coming down to the latter age, there came to be many who grasped at it falsely and held it tight as pincers, and who, not knowing that the Buddha is one's own, abandoned that and went outward and took a thief for their own child. Yet the Way is not blocked in the end, and the age was about to return to what it was of old. Thereupon a true man came forth and fitted the Way exactly, obtained the treasury of the true Dharma eye (正法眼藏) and shaped and reared the multitude of living beings; and this is our National Preceptor.
The National Preceptor's surname was Jeon (田), his taboo name Jigyeom (志謙) and his style Yangji (讓之). His line came out of Yeonggwang Commandery (靈光郡): he was a descendant of Jong-hoe (宗會), General of the Cloud Cavalry and merit-subject of Taejo, and in the sixth generation from Gongji (拱之), who passed the examination first in the reign of Gwangjong and whose office reached Commissioner of the Privy Council. His great-grandfather's taboo name was Gae (漑), Inspector-General Attendant of the Heir Apparent; his grandfather's taboo name was Deokbo (德普), Director of the Daechang Office; his father's taboo name was Ui (毅), Inspector-General Attendant of the Heir Apparent. His mother was of the Namgung (南宮) clan, daughter of Yeong (榮), Director of the Fine Wines Office.
His mother saw in a dream a monk of the Western Regions come to the house and ask to lodge there, and she conceived. When he was born, his frame was outstanding and clear and his inborn spirit was excellent. Even as a small child he did not care for games, and always seemed to be pondering something. One day he met a strange monk, who said, "This child has no place in the world of dust to attach himself to." From that time the master gave up all rank and fetid food.
At barely nine years of age he begged earnestly to leave the household life, and at eleven he went to the Zen Master Sachung (嗣忠) and had his head shaved. The next year he received the full precepts at the ordination platform of Geumsansa (金山寺). The master, being bright in his inborn stuff and quick to awaken, penetrated even the outer writings and added refinement to himself by them. Hence his skill in question and answer was swift as a crossbow springing and an arrow racing, and could not be blocked. The nobles and famous scholars and men of taste of that time longed for his bearing and wished to befriend him. From his youth he already had renown long heaped up in this way.
In the first year of Myeongjong's accession, the Zen examination (禪選) was opened for the first time. At that time the palace attendant Jeong Jungho (鄭仲壺) was in charge of the selection, and a divine man said to him in a dream, "Tomorrow you shall obtain the one who is to be the sovereign's teacher." On that day the master was selected. His former taboo name was Hakdon (學敦). In that same year, while roaming on Samgaksan (三角山), he lodged at Dobongsa (道峯寺), and the mountain god said to him in a dream, "The preceptor's name is Jigyeom — why do you use your present name?" And so he changed it.
In the gi-yu year of the Dading (大定) era he first took up residence at Deunggosa (登高寺). In the fourth year of Mingchang (明昌) he was granted the title Great Master of the Triple Degree, in the seventh year Zen Master was added, and in the fourth year of Taihe (泰和) Great Zen Master was added as well. The master's name was already heard in all four directions, so that whenever a Zen assembly was held within the capital or without, they would at once ask the master to be its chief. The master too took it as his own charge to shoulder the teaching of his school, transmit the Dharma and ferry men across.
In the fourth year of Cheng'an (承安) he moved his residence to Ukgeumsa (郁錦寺). In that year a Zen assembly was held in Jinnye Commandery (進禮郡), and when they asked for one to guide it, the king commanded the master to go. At this assembly the district magistrate Yi Jungmin (李中敏) had a dream in which a heavenly being said, "You speak of purifying the Buddha's land — why then is the prison not empty?" When he woke, sweat was running over his whole body. He went in person to the prison gate and, without distinguishing the heavy from the light of their crimes, pardoned them all. Not one who heard of it failed to be startled and to sigh in admiration.
In the mu-jin year of Taihe the drought was severe. The king received the master and had him preach the Dharma in the inner chapel, but even by the fifth day no rain came. The master, indignant, prayed to the Buddha: "The Buddha's Dharma does not go forth of itself; it must lean upon the ruler of the state. If now no rain comes, where is the numinous response?" Before long sweet rain poured down. The men of that time called it the Preceptor's Rain (和尙雨).
The master was utterly filial. Whenever he received an offering and there was food out of the ordinary, he sent it first to his widowed mother, and only then dared eat of it himself. One day, hearing that his mother had died, he prayed before Indra: "If my mother's life is spent, I pray that her son's life be given in exchange." Before long a servant of the house came running to tell him that the lady had already risen. The men of that time said that his filial devotion had drawn a response.
In the sin-mi year of Tai'an (泰安) he moved his residence to Gukcheongsa (國淸寺). In the second year of Chongqing (崇慶), Gangjong came to the throne and, following the old practice of his ancestors, wished to obtain one of generous renown within the Buddhist gate and make him his teacher. At that time Lord Jingang (晉康公) was in charge of the state's affairs, and he made the selection on the king's behalf. Seeking in the two Zen schools and the five doctrinal gates for one able to bear so great a charge, he found none better than the master. In the end he recommended the master.
The king sent a high minister to ask that the rite of gathering in the robe be performed. The master submitted a memorial and firmly declined, so the king sent envoys again and admonished him earnestly two and three times over. The master accepted the request unwillingly. The king specially sent two envoys, the Senior General No Wonsung (盧元崇) and another, who went to Bojesa (普濟寺) where he was staying and invested him with high honor in due form. Having received the patent, he at once entered the palace, and the king performed the rite due a teacher in person. The king, saying that Gwangmyeongsa (廣明寺) was close to the palace, asked him to stay there, and further made Geodonsa (居頓寺) his home monastery to meet the costs of incense and flowers.
In the eighth month of autumn the king was unwell, and the master too had a boil on his back. When his disciples asked leave to pray, the master set his face sternly and said, "The sovereign's body is not at ease, and I am fortunate enough to have an illness; I wish earnestly to have his moved into my own body. And yet you would pray?"
The king passed away and the present king succeeded to the throne. Saying that he had been the late king's teacher, he again honored him with the rite due a teacher, and his kind treatment was more generous still. Lord Jingang too gave up a beloved son, had his head shaved and made him a disciple, and so did the other officials and gentlemen. The flourishing of his disciples was a thing unheard of in recent times.
In the fifth year of Zhenyou (貞祐) he said suddenly to his disciples, "I rose from a poor house and have come to be the sovereign's teacher, which is beyond my station. Why should I covet favor and stay long in the capital?" He thereupon submitted a letter and begged earnestly to withdraw. The king allowed it unwillingly, and, saying that the scenery of Hwajangsa (花藏寺) was clear and outstanding and its firewood and water ample, asked him to go down there and live at ease.
When he was about to depart, Lord Jingang received him and gave him a farewell feast. The lord came out and bowed, and with his own hands took him under the arm to help him up the steps. When he set out on the road, he gave him a fine horse and also sent retainers to escort him on his way. Though the master was a thousand li away, the king's caring intent did not cease. Several times he sent close attendants to ask after him, and not a month passed without gifts being sent.
In the sixth month of the gi-chuk year, the thirteenth year since he had gone down to the monastery, on the fifteenth day, thunder struck fiercely and a great rock crumbled and fell. On that day the master showed signs of a slight illness. At dawn on the second day of the seventh month he rose, washed his face, and called his disciple Hyeonwon (玄源) to write three letters, which he sent to the king, to the present Chief Minister the Duke of Jinyang (晉陽公), and to the eminent monk who was lord of Songgwangsa, informing them that he was going far away. When they were all written, he waited a good while and then said, "To go today is not convenient; I shall take my leave when a later day comes." He thereupon lay down upon his couch, and so to the eighth day.
Suddenly he rose and said to the assembly, "The light of meditative absorption is still, and the sun of wisdom is bright and bright. The Dharma realm and the world of dust appear at once in the wheel of the navel." A monk asked, "A man of old said, 'When the night is deep and the moon first bright, I shall go alone' — what then is the place where the preceptor goes alone?" He answered, "The blue sea is wide and the white clouds are at leisure. Do not attach so much as a hair between them." Having finished speaking, he joined his hands at his breast and, all at once, passed away still seated. His face was as though powder had been laid on it, and the color of his lips was red and glossy. Of those far and near, not one failed to come running to look up and bow.
When the king heard of his death he grieved deeply, and had a close attendant, Jo Gwangchwi (趙光就), Junior Supervisor of the Directorate for Palace Buildings, together with the diviners, oversee the funeral. At last they cremated him on the western slope of the monastery, gathered the numinous bones, and buried them at the foot of Deungseonsan (登禪山). Then a royal writ came down granting him the posthumous title National Preceptor Jeonggak (靜覺國師). He was eighty-five years of age, and his years in the monastic order were seventy-five.
The National Preceptor as a man had not the least ornament about him; he merely followed his nature and went along with the principle of things. He resided in great monasteries all around, yet whenever a meal offering was made he always came out before the assembly and stood waiting with his bowl held up in his hands. He tasted coarse rice and thin soup together with the assembly, and never once had food set out for himself apart. In his diligence at the Buddha's work, even in bitter cold and fierce heat, there was not the least look of flagging or idleness in him. All these are hard things in old age, and yet he was able to do them. Ah, was he truly a bodhisattva come again in another body? Of responses and numinous marvels there were indeed many, but they are all small things at the border of the Way, and moreover I fear that later men would think them strange and empty, and so they are not recorded here.
His disciple the Great Zen Master Gwagun (廓雲) and others reported to the king: "It is long since the master passed away, and his stele has still not been set up, which is what we grieve over deeply. Let a writer be set to cut it in stone, so that it may be handed down forever." The king commanded this small subject to compose the text, and further granted a tablet naming it such-and-such stele. Your subject did not dare decline, and respectfully bowing twice composes the inscription, saying:
Interlinear notes 2
奉宣述
Composed by royal command.
The base text has 康王卽祚, giving "King Gang"; but since this is the same Gangjong of Goryeo as the 康廟 of the stele inscription recorded next, the one name has been used throughout. — Translator
達摩傳心兮靈光東曜。後學倒見兮背鏡求照。焯焯國師兮揭日以行。一廓煙氛兮昏矇皆𣈑。法王出世兮祖月重暉。覺路司南兮學者知歸。門弟林林兮親哺以乳。又翼其鷇兮放之使飛。種福滋久兮流潤罔極。天子屈尊兮北面請益。生爲帝範兮卒作國師。龜鑑斯亡兮安所取則。上命小臣兮期以不晦。臣拜刻銘兮與山作配。來者去者兮騎行則下。寧不拜佛兮惟碑是拜。
Bodhidharma transmitted the mind, and the numinous light shone in the East. Later men looked at it upside down, and sought to shine while turning their backs on the mirror. Shining and shining, the National Preceptor came forward holding up the sun, and with one sweep of the mist-vapor all that was dark and turbid grew bright. The Dharma King came forth into the world, and the moon of the patriarchs shone again. He became a guide on the road of awakening, and those who studied knew where to return. His disciples were many as a thicket, and he suckled them himself. And he made wings sprout on their young as well, and set them free to fly. He planted blessings and long increased them, and the bounty that flowed had no end. The Son of Heaven bent his eminence, faced north and asked for teaching. Living, he was the sovereign's example; dead, he became National Preceptor. The one to take for a mirror has gone thus — where shall we take the Dharma from? The king commanded this small subject, in hope that he be not buried away. Your subject bows and cuts this inscription, to be the mountain's mate. You who come and you who go — if you ride past, dismount. Sooner leave off bowing to the Buddha than fail to bow to this stele.