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

Text for the rite of emptying the jails, held at the Prison Office典獄行空獄道場文

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 · 110 Chinese characters · reading time 1.3 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.

佛爲事時一現世。廣演法音。后非民罔與守邦。貴行仁政。念循眇質。奄御群生。厥德靡常。雖不孚於心服。惟刑之恤。切欲至於訟衰。玆下勑於有司。悉縱囚於非所。庶蒙梵蔭。永不用於金科。祗敞熏筵。俾特繙於玉軸。洪惟覺鑑。遄借慈庥。民趨淳厚之風。無干國禁。世致泰平之慶。永固邦基。

The Buddha, when the time comes, appears once in the world and spreads wide the voice of the Law; and a ruler without a people has none to keep the land with him, and so holds benevolent government dear.

I consider that with worthless stuff I have suddenly come to govern the many living. My virtue is not constant, and I have not been able to make them follow with their hearts; yet, troubled above all by punishments, I earnestly hope to come to a lessening of lawsuits. So I sent down a command to the offices in charge and released all prisoners held where they ought not to be.

Receiving the Buddha's shade, I hope that heavy articles of law may forever go unused. Reverently I open a seat for the burning of incense and have that scripture specially unrolled and read.

Greatly do I consider that you are the mirror of enlightenment: swiftly lend us the help of your compassion. Let the people go forward into simple and deep-rooted customs, so that they do not transgress the state's prohibitions; and let the age attain the good fortune of great peace, so that the foundation of the land stands firm for long.

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