Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Latter Collection, Book 7

Thanks to the Seon Master Gi for Sending Fine Dumplings謝其禪師送細餛飩

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 · 56 Chinese characters · reading time 0.6 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 7 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.

重羅雪麪切裁新。封了緘書餉故人。遙見初疑堆木屑。細看眞似積瓊塵。晨朝饞口非唯美。晝日飢腸亦足珍。饋及殘翁情可感。但祈法壽萬千春。

Of snow-white flour sifted again and again, newly minced and made, you sealed them up, attached a letter, and sent them to an old friend. Seeing them from afar I thought at first that sawdust had been heaped up, and looking closely, they are truly as though jade powder were piled. Not only are they savoury to a greedy mouth at dawn, they are treasure enough for a hungry gut at midday. Sending even to an old man — how moving that kindness is! I only pray that you, Master, may enjoy ten million springs.

Interlinear notes 2

束折白麪賦云。重羅之麪雪酒塵飛。

In Shu Xi's rhapsody (賦) it says, “From flour sifted again and again a snow-like powder flies about.”

師短簡云。以充早膳之資。

In the master's short letter he said, “Add this to the stock of your morning table.”