Petition for the Assembly of Complete Awakening Held by the Abbot of Gwijeong Temple歸正寺住持行圓覺法會踈
說法沿機。皆出瞿曇之玅諦。廻光見性。莫如圓覺之勝門。伏念假浮屠之形。逋齊民之賦。無功無德。何以利吾國家。不耨不耕。甚矣賊夫粮食。念東海三韓之有國。自西漢五鳳之立元。寢及大祖。統壹以還。合爲千百餘載。常與北狄戰爭。相殺死者幾億萬。今若丁亥戊子之尋戈。與庚戌癸巳之寇境。載册如昨。使人寒心。况近者逖彼戎胡。入吾封域。彼俗之見斃者峙如京觀。我民之被戕者積若亂麻。此皆宿刦之冤銜。恒轉多生而酬酢。邊境之版蕩由此而生。邦家之繹騷自玆而作。不有因緣之解釋。其爲封執也何窮。雖吾無賴之徒。不忍坐觀其事。有如參政相國崔公。一國之安危攸繫。萬人之倚注所歸。公寧則十國皆寧。公壽則萬人皆壽。宜託有爲之報仰。祈難老之休。是用指佛日而齋盟。轉願輪之莫大。卽於精舍。展此熏筵。廓宣空寂之詮。覬荷慈悲之援。伏願我聖上陛下。賴多天之保護。爲世尤長。擁列域之輯寧。與民同慶。伏願參政相國崔公。作時元鼎。爲國大山。鎭世安民。享郭汾陽之富貴。延年益算。將衛虎公之康強。次願代代戰亡員將士卒等。永釋宿含。反觀本覺。拋報身於毛道。覩梵相於蓮臺。
The expounding of the Dharma follows the capacities of the hearers, and all of it comes forth from the wondrous truth of Gautama (瞿曇); and for turning the light back to see one's own nature, there is nothing like the excellent gate of Complete Awakening.
Prostrate I consider: I have borrowed the appearance of a monk and so escaped the levies laid upon the people. Having neither merit nor virtue, with what should I profit our country? Neither weeding nor ploughing, I consume grain to excess.
Consider: that there has been a state in the Three Han by the Eastern Sea dates from the setting up of a reign title in the Obong (五鳳) years of the Western Han (西漢). From Taejo's unifying of them into one, the sum is a thousand and some hundreds of years. Always we have fought the northern barbarians, and how many hundreds of millions have killed one another no one knows. And now the clash of spears in the years Jeonghae and Muja, and the raiding of our borders in the years Gyeongsul and Gyesa — what is set down in the books is as though it were yesterday, and it chills a man's heart.
How much more now, when those distant barbarians have entered our territory. Their dead are heaped up like a great grave mound, and our people who have come to harm are piled like tangled hemp. All this is the old enmity of former ages, forever rolling back and forth through many lives, paid out and received again. The shaking of our frontiers comes about from this, and the disorder of the state rises from this. If the karmic bonds are not loosed, how should their binding ever be exhausted? Even a useless creature such as I cannot bear to sit and merely look upon it.
One such as Chancellor Choe (崔公), Participant in Governance, is he upon whom the peace and the peril of a whole country hang, and he to whom ten thousand men lean and incline. If the lord is at peace, ten countries are all at peace; if the lord lives long, ten thousand men all live long. It is fitting to entrust ourselves to the recompense of deeds done and to look up in prayer for the blessing of his never growing old. Therefore, pointing to the sunlight of the Buddha, we make our vow with this offering rite and set rolling the wheel of a vow than which none is greater. Here in this temple, then, we spread out this seat of burning incense. Setting forth widely the teaching of emptiness and stillness, we hope to receive the help of his compassion.
Prostrate, I pray that our Sage Sovereign His Majesty, receiving the protection of the many heavens, may abide the longer in the world, and, holding the concord of all his territories, may enjoy good fortune together with his people.
Prostrate, I pray that Chancellor Choe, Participant in Governance, may become the cauldron that upholds the age and the great mountain of the state; that, settling the world and giving the people peace, he may enjoy the wealth and rank of Guo of Fenyang (郭汾陽); and that, lengthening his years and adding to his age, he may hold the vigour of Duke Wu of Wei (衛武公).
Next I pray that the generals and soldiers who have died in battle generation after generation may loose their old enmity for good and turn back to look upon original awakening; that from the station of the common man they may cast off the body of karmic retribution, and upon the lotus terrace behold the holy form.
Interlinear notes 1
衛虎公 — The base text has 虎公, but since it appears that in Goryeo 虎 was written in place of 武 to avoid the given name of King Hyejong, it has been read as Duke Wu of Wei (衛武公). — Translator