Text praying for rain at the Hall of the Five Hundred Saints at Bojesa普濟寺行五百聖殿祈雨文
天機萬變。旱乾由謫罰而生。聖力一廻。雲雨乃須臾之頃。自仲春而至夏。致亢陽之爲災。日流金而甚於火爍。苗仆塊而如以湯焦。若今日之間。莫致九霄之澤。卽甫田之上。便無一畝之收。人所死生。勢在朝夕。如有罪者。蒙之尙可。於無辜也。及則奈何。是皆由宰相之積愆。其忍啜膳羞而安坐。禱神明而靡答。出囚繫而無功。計雖已窮。心復自忖。不若投大雲之蔭。於以乞甘澍之霑。捨百人半月之粮。特營信施。用一鉢數升之例。各展香羞。庶以我之膏梁。換作民之膚肉。至誠所格。妙鑒必通。伏願霈一日之滂沱。滋濡赤地。致九農之豐稔。救活蒼生。
The pivot of heaven changes in ten thousand ways, and drought arises from a reproving punishment. Let the holy power turn once, and cloud and rain are the matter of a moment.
From the middle month of spring on into summer the sun has been too strong and has become a calamity. The sun melts metal and makes it run, worse than burning in fire; the shoots lie fallen on the clods as though scalded with boiling water. If within this very day we do not win the grace of high heaven, then on that great field there will not be one furrow's harvest. Whether the people live or die hangs upon a morning and an evening.
That the guilty should suffer this may pass; but what is to be done when it reaches the guiltless? All of this comes from the faults heaped up by the chief minister. Could I bear to eat fine food and sit at ease? I pray to the spirits and there is no answer; I release those in prison and it is to no avail.
My plans are already spent, but weighing it again in my heart, nothing would be better than to cast myself upon the shade of the great cloud and beg the moistening of sweet rain. Giving out a half month's provisions for a hundred men, I have made a special offering of faith, and by the rule of so many measures to a bowl, each has incense and food set out. I pray that the rich food we eat become flesh for the people. Where utmost sincerity reaches, mysterious discernment surely gets through.
Prostrate, I pray that you pour out a single day's great rain and moisten the scorched red earth, and that the nine crops ripen in plenty and give the people life.