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

Text for providing a feast at the Seon gathering at Gwangmyeongsa and asking for an exposition of Seon廣明寺禪會設齋請說禪文

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 · 143 Chinese characters · reading time 1.6 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.

心珠密授。雖曰無言可言。祖月猶圓。不妨將指而指。恭惟泐潭的嗣。荷澤高風。雪鶴淸癯。動唳聞天之響。金毛奮迅。輒嘷震地之聲。今國家敬眼藏之眞乘。敞譚筵於梵宇。顧如愚輩。素嚮宗風。斯營一日之緣。庶有萬分之補。仰干碧眼。乞指玄源。伏望毋拒誠祈。高升寶座。振大音而如鐘斯吼。暢一滴而如海斯傾。掃胡虜之窺窬。致干戈之鞱戢。則是國之幸。民之福。愚之望也。

The pearl of mind is given and received in secret, and though it is said there are no words worth speaking, the patriarchs' moon is round all the same, and there is no harm in pointing at it with a finger.

Respectfully I consider that you are the true dharma heir of Leitan (泐潭) and bear the lofty manner of Heze (荷澤). Clear and spare as a crane in snow, when you stir you give a cry heard as far as heaven; and as a lion of golden fur rouses itself, you roar of a sudden with a voice that shakes the earth.

Now the state, revering the true teaching of the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, has opened a seat of discourse at the monastery. Looking back, even a foolish sort such as I have from the first turned toward the manner of the school. Providing this one day's karmic bond, I pray that there be help worth one part in ten thousand. Looking up, I inquire of the Seon master's bright eye and beg that he point out the hidden source.

Prostrate, I pray that you not refuse this sincere request, but mount high upon the jeweled seat; shake forth a great sound as of a bell ringing, and unfold a single drop as though a sea were tipped over, so that the barbarians' spying be swept away and shield and spear be gathered and hidden. Then this will be the state's good fortune, the people's blessing, and this foolish man's wish.

‹ Petition for the house-settling dharma assembly at GwangjesaContentsText asking, as above, for an exposition of Seon ›Listen to this piece