Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 39

Petition for the Buddha-Crown rite佛頂道場疏

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 · 122 Chinese characters · reading time 1.4 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 39 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。世雄希現。優鉢華之開敷。法藏最尊。摩尼寶之照耀。眷惟眇質。叨襲丕基。安定厥邦。顧乏恭明之德。歸依於佛。佇蒙覆護之慈。㳙選良辰。灑淸梵宇。峙方壇之四角。祗展香科。披戒服之七條。競揚祕句。耳纔經玉音之妙。頂若受金手之摩。伏願甘露普霑。眞風遠暢。如山益固。享祚業之靈長。置器不危。擁國家之帖泰。

And so forth. That the hero of the world appears but rarely is like the blooming of the udumbara flower; that the storehouse of the Law stands highest of all is like the shining of the mani jewel.

Looking back, with this worthless body I have presumed to succeed to the great foundation. I would bring peace to this land, yet I see how my reverent and bright virtue falls short. I turn and lean upon the Buddha, waiting to receive the compassion that covers and guards.

Choosing out a good day, we sprinkle and sweep the pure monastery, build high the four corners of the square altar, and reverently set forth the rite of incense; putting on the seven-strip robe that keeps the precepts, we vie in sending up the secret phrases. The marvel of those jade-like sounds has barely passed through our ears, and already it is as though our crowns had received the stroking of a golden hand.

Prostrate, we pray that the sweet dew may moisten all around and the true teaching spread far. Make us firmer still, like a mountain, so that the state's blessing and work may enjoy a divinely long span; and as a vessel set down is in no danger, so enfold this land in peace and great tranquillity.

‹ Text for the rite praying to the Northern Dipper, by the state's divination, for lengthened life and passage through misfortuneContentsSacrificial address of thanks to the Great King of Gongsan ›Listen to this piece