Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 41

Petition for the dotting of the eyes of the Medicine Buddha at the foregoing monastery同前寺藥師如來點眼踈

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 · 169 Chinese characters · reading time 1.8 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 41 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.

歷殑伽沙而有界。淨若琉璃。噫藥師佛之放光。過於日月。冥心卽契。非色可求。然凡眼例須於寓形。况本經又說以造像。如能捨金銀而用飾。不猶愈指瓜之皷成。伏念某謬荷聖知。叨司國柄。顧沐恩於頂踵。良不可任。苟有補於髮毫。庶幾自效。創玆北麓之古寺。邀以東方之睟容。罄露檀誠。點開蓮眼。八十種之眞想。擧目想觀。十二願之洪慈。轉頭斯應。伏願聖上陛下。德與五帝而六。業擁無疆。嶽呼萬歲者三。壽延難老。三邊臥皷。四海迓衡。

Beyond the sands of the Ganges there is a world whose clearness is like the gem of beryl (琉璃). Ah, the light the Medicine Buddha sends forth is better than sun and moon. Make the mind hidden and still, and one meets him at once; he is not to be sought in form. Yet the eyes of ordinary men must as a rule be fixed upon a form, and still more, the sutra itself bids one make an image. If gold and silver can be given to adorn it, is that not better than tracing it out with a fingernail?

Prostrate, I consider that I, So-and-so, have undeservedly received the king's recognition and presumptuously taken up the handle of state power. Looking back, from crown to heel I am steeped in his grace, and truly I cannot bear it. Truly, if there is even a hair's worth of help I can give, I would offer my strength of my own accord.

I have built anew this old monastery on the northern slope and welcome the clear likeness of the East. Showing forth all the sincerity of my giving, I dot and open the lotus-like eyes. The eighty true marks I lift my eyes to behold and contemplate, and the broad compassion of the twelve vows answers in the turning of a head.

Prostrate, I pray that His Majesty's virtue be added to the five sovereigns and make a sixth, and that the royal work continue without end; that, as the mountains cry ten thousand years three times over, his life be lengthened and he not grow old; and that on the three frontiers the drums lie down and all the seas be met with peace.

‹ Petition for the dotting of the eyes of the Avalokiteshvara painted by Minister Choe to turn away the Khitan troops — all that follows was composed on his behalf at the Minister's request Contents Petition for the Flower Garland chapters in celebration of the rebuilding of Suncheonsa, on behalf of the Duke of Jingang (晉康公) — Petition offered at the dharma assembly ›Listen to this piece