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

Text for the exposition of the Flower Garland Sutra at Heungboksa in Seogyeong西京興福寺。講華嚴文。

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 · 140 Chinese characters · reading time 1.6 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.

等慈妙覺。顯億化於十方。滿宇圓音。融萬殊於一味。炤高山之是喩。盡大地以難量。言念前寧。篤崇內敎。迺眷東明之古國。立此精藍。寔弘西竺之遺風。資諸梵福。顧先願之有至。豈後嗣之敢輕。玆遣使軺。伻開熏席。恭迎毳衲。披屈眴於猊床。仰對玉毫。演貝多之虯藏。精修允集。妙鑑必通。伏願慧日旁輝。法雲廣被。邊陲靜謐。永無鷄檄之飛。宗社安榮。寢享龍圖之久。

The marvelous enlightenment, evenly compassionate, shows forth a hundred million transformations in the ten directions; the round voice that fills the whole world melts the ten thousand differences into a single flavor. It is likened to light shining upon a high mountain, yet though one exhaust the whole earth it is hard to measure.

I consider that the former king deeply honored the inner teaching. Thus, looking back upon the old realm of King Dongmyeong, he founded this monastery, and truly broadened the manner left behind in Cheoncheuk (India) in the west, leaning upon the blessing of the many Buddhas. Looking back, the aspiration of those before us reached its mark; how then should the descendants who follow dare make light of it?

And so I have sent an envoy's carriage to have the seat of incense opened. Reverently we welcome monks in patched robes and have them spread their kasaya upon the lion seat; and looking up to face the jade tuft, we unroll the scripture of the dragon palace written on pattra leaves. Pure practice has truly gathered here, and so the marvelous mirror will surely respond.

Prostrate, I pray that the sun of wisdom may shine everywhere and the clouds of the Law cover far and wide. Let the frontier be quiet, so that forever no urgent dispatch stuck with a chicken feather comes flying in; and let the ancestral shrine and the altars of the state be peaceful and flourishing, so that the royal seat may enjoy a long succession.

‹ Text for the preaching of the Golden Light Sutra at Jungheungsa in the same Seogyeong Contents Text for the rite praying to the Northern Dipper, by the state's divination, for lengthened life and passage through misfortune ›Listen to this piece