Text for the rite of the twenty-six portions of merit, held according to the state's divination國卜二十六分功德道場文
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 · 100 Chinese characters · reading time 1.1 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.
A secret writing was given in a dream, and strange indeed were the urging and the charge of that wondrous monk. If one raises right thought in the mind, it reaches everywhere among all the divine places and they give protection.
Looking back, with this worthless body I have come to the great seat. Always I am as one on guard against the poison of the jim bird (鴆), and there is not a single day of ease. Still more, when I examine the counsel of the tortoise divination, it is fitting to be wary through the three months of autumn. So I would go to the right Law and pray for great help: I call the true company furnished with the five virtues to chant the holy names of the ten directions.
Prostrate, I pray that I may look up and receive the power of enlightenment and lean once more upon your divine majesty. Rid me of trouble while it is not yet so, that I may pass well through this disordered age; and let the years you bestow be long, lengthening still further the blessing of long life.