Sacrificial address offered to Chancellor Yu祭兪丞相文
嗚呼哀哉。文章德行。今古一人。如譽天高。此不敢陳。公之行止。始屈終信。帝昔龍潛。公實爲師。風雲感會。雪舊屯奇。縱轡疾驅。驟登鼎司。龜鑑斯存。上方倚用。國棟遽顚。孰不爲痛。富貴暴逼。吾固已恐。由是然耶。何忽奄爾。室無伉儷。誰哭內次。伯道無兒。孰奉廟祀。嗚呼哀哉。惟昔僧選。公主張之。擢我巍品。榮已溢涯。畜我如子。恩又不貲。曁臨病篤。召予以囑。曰彼上天。絶我嗣續。豈無同胞。亦有疏屬。揆厥行爲。俱莫稱意。知予之心。唯爾而已。吾今沒矣。汝主後事。予讓不受。公莫肯聽。然後再拜。稟玆理命。自受遺言。佩服以敬。以予迂闊。凡事不閑。窀穸之事。無一可觀。公若鑑之。得無靦顔。嗚呼哀哉。光陰不留。百日已回。旣張佛事。仍奠茗柸。嗟嗟相國。諒我哀摧。嗚呼哀哉尙享。
Alas, how sad. In letters and in virtuous conduct there has been but one such man, in old times or now. To praise it would be like praising the sky for being high, and so I shall not venture to set it out.
The Lord's advancing and withdrawing was bent at first and unfolded at the end. When our king was long ago in his private residence, the Lord was in truth his teacher. When wind and cloud felt each other and gathered, he washed away his long blockage and hardship, and loosing the reins he ran fast and rose at a single stroke to the chancellor's seat. There was something here to take as a mirror, and the king was just about to lean upon him and use him, when the pillar of the state suddenly fell; who would not ache at it?
That riches and honor should come on suddenly, I feared from the first. Is that the reason for it? How is it so sudden? There is no partner in the house, so who will wail in the inner rooms? He had no son, as Bodao (伯道) had none, so who will take up the sacrifices in the ancestral shrine?
Alas, how sad. Long ago the Lord presided over the monastic examination and chose me in a high grade, so that the glory was already more than enough. He raised me as his own son, so that his kindness too is beyond reckoning.
When his illness grew grave he called me and charged me, saying, "That Heaven has cut off my posterity. It is not that I have no brothers, nor that I have no distant kin, but when I weigh their conduct none of them satisfies my heart. The one who knows my heart is you alone. I am now to die; do you take charge of what comes after." I declined and would not accept, but the Lord would not listen. Thereupon I bowed twice and took up this last charge. Since receiving the words he left, I have borne them reverently upon me.
I am dull and have nothing open in me, and I am unpracticed in every affair. In the business of the burial there is not one thing fit to look at; if the Lord looks upon this, will my face not be put to shame?
Alas, how sad. Time does not stay, and the hundredth day has already come round. The Buddhist rites have been performed, and now I offer the cup of tea. Alas, my chancellor. Weigh the sorrow of one who is broken. Alas, how sad. Partake of it, I beg.
Interlinear notes 1
代守其首座行
Written on behalf of Sugi, the Head Seat.