Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 38

Sacrificial address of thanks to the Great Spirit (大神) of Gyebyeon戒邊大神謝祭文

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 · 131 Chinese characters · reading time 1.3 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 38 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.

夫人之一行一步。非有神明之衛。猶恐顚蹶。况兵有不測之變。戰爲必死之地。其成其敗。皆冥然所使。孰有恃衆違神而能得其利者耶。愚等自興師之日。聞我天神。鎭此一方。不遠千里。躬叩祠堂。一申微素。覬荷恩光。果靈應之不遐。致賊魁之梟首。禮當叙謝。恩不可負。今者仲秋初吉。時節凄淸。籩豆斯設。鍾皷斯鳴。是之不享。予面有赬。云云。

In all things, even a single journey or a single step a man takes, if there be no guarding by the divine powers, there is still fear of stumbling. How much more in warfare, where there are calamities beyond reckoning and battle is a place of certain death, so that its winning and its collapse are all ordered from the unseen. Who could trust in the multitude of his host, defy the spirits, and still gain advantage thereby?

We, foolish as we are, had heard from the very day we raised our troops that our Heavenly Spirit presses down upon and guards this one region; and so, counting a thousand li no great distance, we came in person to knock at the shrine, to set forth once our small hearts and to hope for the light of your favor. Indeed the divine answer was not far off, and the head of the brigand chief came to be hung up. By ritual it is fitting that thanks be set forth, and favor cannot be betrayed.

Now, on the first day of the middle month of autumn, when the season is cool and clear, the sacrificial vessels are here set out and the bell and drum are here sounded. If you do not partake of this, my face will redden. And so forth.

‹ Sacrificial address offered again before the Heavenly Spirit of GyebyeonContentsSacrificial address offered to the Eastern Peak ›Listen to this piece