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Jiao Rite Petition for the Natal Destiny (本命) — Blue Text (靑詞)本命醮禮文 靑詞

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 1.2 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 40 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.

大道爲陰陽之祖。人所由生。上天司造化之權。工而不宰。眷惟眇質。夙託眞庥。受命無疆。惟休靈承帝事。俾予從欲以理。簡在上心。玆臨元本之辰。益佇高明之眷。按冲科於三洞。祗蕆精禋。邀仙仗於九霄。覬歆薄禮。純誠所格。孚佑遄加。泮渙優遊。保身宮之帖泰。熾昌耆艾。享壽籙之延洪。

The great Way is the ancestor of yin and yang, and humankind comes to be through it; the Heaven above holds the power of creation and transformation, and though it is skillful it does not take mastery over us.

Looking back, with a paltry endowment I long ago took refuge in the true shade. The mandate I received is beautiful without end, and so in a numinous way I have upheld the work of the Lord on High (上帝). That I am let to govern as I would wish is because it has been looked upon in the Lord on High's heart.

So, meeting the day of my natal destiny, I wait the more for your lofty and bright care. Looking to the hidden observances in the scriptures of the Three Caverns (三洞), I reverently prepare a pure sacrifice; and welcoming the immortals' retinue from the Nine Heavens, I pray that you partake of this meager rite.

Where this pure sincerity has reached, add your faithful help with speed. Let me be loosed and roam at ease, keeping my station at peace and in great calm; and let me flourish and prosper into old age, enjoying a long and ample span in the ledger of life.

Interlinear notes 1

受命無疆惟休 — a single block taken from the Book of Documents, so it is punctuated and read as "the mandate received is beautiful without end." The base text's punctuation falls after 受命無疆. ― Translator

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