Matching the Rhymes of the Fifty Rhymes the Reverend Gonggong Gave to the Youth Pak次韻空空上人。贈朴少年五十韻。

When the two breaths divide and part, there is yin and there is yang, so the male sometimes calls to the female, and the woman follows the man. That the returning phoenix seeks its mate is truly longing; the solitary simurgh, having lost its mate, strays about instead. I have heard that the tree whose branches are joined differs from the common grasses; I see that the flower that shares its heart differs from the common fragrances. If there were no husband and wife, could even the fowl get its mate? And if there were no elder and younger brother, could even the wild geese keep their line? Taking a wife, one means as a matter of course to plan on growing old together; meeting a concubine, men commonly swear that they will forget nothing. And if besides, elegance and taste gather in a refined nature, one calls for singing and dancing too, and gets a merry gathering. Already one troubles soft fingers to play the jade zither, and then asks a coquettish form to hold up the jade cup. Who is there that, having met a flowerlike manner, can in the end keep an iron-like resolve unbroken? How confused it is—they vie to learn how the bee probes the stamens; how laughable—it is truly like the butterfly chasing after fragrance. When the pheasants peck side by side and then fly off, the calf-herd grieves; when beasts set tail to tail, one likens them to the mandarin ducks on the beam. Even if one would fill the inner chamber with outstanding beauties and set many women besides in rows along the gallery, it is only the lofty man who can cut it off cleanly and leap straight past the common world, delighting to be deeply hidden. Stilling his heart, he comes of himself to know that root and dust are illusion; delighting in the Way, he knows deeply that its air and savour are long. All that beauty laid out crosswise he sends away, consigning it to chewing wax, and hating the great appetites he avoids groping in boiling water. Though the field fox play coquettishly, how should it peep in at his side? And the woman of heaven, being hard to violate, is merely there beside him in vain. Long ago he floated like a cloud and sought out Mount Dai (岱山) and Mount Hua (華山), and drifted like duckweed besides, passing the Yuan (沅水) and the Xiang (湘水). When he lodges alone in a room, he spreads a mat of sedge; when he goes alone to the mountains, he spins hemp of arrowroot and makes clothes. The wood called "as-you-wish" (如意) becomes the thing he scratches his back with; the bamboo called the bamboo wife is the household good that keeps his body company. The solitude of a rock wicket gate is truly to be delighted in; how should the bustle of the world's roads be what he wishes for? Even if there were empty karmic ties and he were shown temptation a few times, I think he would surely stand upright and not leave his own place. I cannot tell what the look of the youth Pak can be, that sitting there he has turned the mind of the Master Gonggong mad instead. He calls himself pure yang (純陽)—to what has he responded? I only find it lovely that his strange bearing is the clearest and most soaring. Truly it is not the rushing of a rutting ox that runs over the fields, and how should it be the haste of a thirsty deer running to a spring? The ear of grain cannot be born again from withered corn, and why must the barnyard millet come out of a withered willow? He pledges only to be a friend through fondness and intimacy, and how should he bear not to be under one roof even for a moment? When they part and go, the thought of it is as though the land were blocked; when he comes to call, one claps one's hands—how much more at a beckoning over the wall. By the time he shook out his wings in the hall and flew a thousand li, they had come to be able to sleep quietly in one room. The peach has no words of its own, yet is glad to be planted in the garden; and what intent has the lotus, that it rejoices to be planted in the pond? The swan's young by the river are lovely for being white, and the oriole's young on the branch are lovable for being yellow. How much more this youth, who was clever early from his birth, and who has besides tasted his fill of wide learning early on. He is just like the trim colour of a spring wood, and exactly like the light of the round, round full moon. Sharing a quilt in the sleeping place, their feeling is truly thick; and what harm if they take as their model what is told of pairing in the palace? The bearing of the immortals was not heard of in Zhou (周) and Han (漢) of old, and even in the near past it was hard to see in Song (宋) and Tang (唐). In our country there were four Immortal Youths (仙郞), truly like jade, and their fame has been handed down through all ages, sounding like a reed organ. Seeking out the true, they rode together and flew the green parasols; seeking fine prospects, they set their saddles side by side and took up the red reins. The thousand followers at their gates craved a glance from them; the two old men of the Buddha's house made intimacy an ordinary thing. Climbing the mountains and coming to the waters, how ample was their seeing; drinking wine and looking at flowers, their joy was not coarse. Having met an outstanding form just now, the two of you fit each other exactly; do not go chasing after the traces of the past—it only makes the heart remote. Why should one grieve over Myeongsa (鳴沙) and Gyeongpo (鏡浦)? And there is no need to pine for Chongseok (叢石) and Songjeong (松亭). You would open a small hermitage and add to what has been framed and built, and live together in the retreat (精舍) and pass the heat and the cool there. I say that your scheme is worth trying out, but I will not say it is good even if your intent is to shelter a worthy talent. I only consider that this old man, old though he already is, could never reckon up a great monk of such loftiness. The pledge we swore together is as though we had made friends beforehand, and if we were to fight in the field of poetry, I might still stand up to you. I shall send word quietly so that a jewelled bridle may be welcomed, and call besides a gaunt and limping donkey, and pour out jadelike wine. I shall also call the old man of the Library (芸閣) who writes so well. You indeed are the great dharma-king of the Buddha's house. With clearness and purity you must first pay back your old debts, for the embrace of women you grew sick of long ago. The fine flowering season will presently draw near, and this remaining body of mine, sick and worn, is little by little a little better. Among fifty rhymes it is hard to have everything complete one by one, so how should Nagun (樂雲) wish to leave the next piece empty?