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Text for the Lantern-lighting rite at Bongeunsa奉恩寺燃燈道場文

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 · 112 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.

梵雄出世。廣開利物之妙門。竺域繞城。始唱燃燈之淨範。自先格而崇典。洎後葉以流光。言念沖人。式遵成訓。卜良宵於春籥。嚴覺席於金園。蕙炷千釭。爛若光明之海。珍羞百味。靄然供養之雲。所締勝因。卽通他鑑。伏願禎祥滋至。曆服彌長。措國步於永寧。固如定鼎。亘民區而同慶。煕若登臺。

The Buddha came forth into the world and opened wide the wondrous gate that benefits all things; and in the land of Cheoncheuk (天竺), circling the city, he first proclaimed the pure rite of the lighting of lanterns. From the time of the former sovereigns it has been upheld as statute, and its light has flowed down to the generations after.

I consider that I, a child in years, follow the teaching already established, and choosing a fine night in the season of spring, I set out with all strictness the seat of enlightenment at the temple. A thousand lamps with wicks of fragrant herb dazzle like a sea of radiance, and rare foods of every savor hang thick as a cloud of offering. The surpassing bond thus tied passes straight through to your discerning gaze.

Prostrate, I pray that auspiciousness may come the more and the fortune we enjoy be the longer. Set the footing of the state in lasting peace, firm as the settling of the cauldrons that fixed the capital; and let every quarter where the people dwell rejoice together, bright as one who has climbed the terrace.

‹ Text for the offering made at the Queen's Hall in requital of a vow, presented throughout the several templesContentsText for the rite of Atabagu (阿吒波拘), the Mighty Great General, held at Honggyeongwon ›Listen to this piece