Takyeon, a Man of the Way Going Along with Muga, Asks for a Poem無可伴行卓然道者乞詩。
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 · 70 Chinese characters · reading time 0.7 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 9 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.
You are the son of a chief minister's house
And early set your name on the palace register
And on top of that you drew a salary besides
So that wealth and rank were soon worth the picturing
Why then did you shave your black hair
And chant your songs toward the blue of the clouded mountains
The look of a man of the Way is already lofty and antique
In a former life you must surely have looked upon the Buddha
You went for a while at the court's summons
And the intent with which you begged off and spoke was a pity
Released, you go back to your old mountain
And at the parting I am truly cast down
Go well, and strive at the cultivating of the true
And the blessing left over will reach the whole country
Interlinear notes 2
故平章崔正份子也。早屬內侍累食祿。忽出家歸山。
He was the son of the late Administrator of Chancellery Affairs Choe Jeongbin (崔正份). He was early chosen for the Inner Attendants' Court (內侍), who wait beside the king, and ate a salary for several years; then of a sudden he left his house and went back to the mountains.
欲送蒙古徵之。師固辭。
He was summoned to be sent to the Mongols, but the monk firmly begged off.