Sabok Does Not Speak蛇福不言
1Until twelve he neither spoke nor stood
虵福不言亰師萬善北里有寡女,不夫而孕旣産.年至十二歳不語亦不起.因号虵童.〔下或作虵卜又巴又伏䓁,皆言童也.〕
Sabok does not speak.
In Manseon Bungni in the capital there was a woman who lived alone. Without a husband she conceived and gave birth.
Until the age of twelve the child neither spoke nor stood up.
Because of this he was called Sadong (蛇童), the Snake Child.〔The second character is also written Sabok, Sapa, Sabok, and so on, all of which mean child.〕
Interlinear notes 1
下或作虵卜又巴又伏䓁, 皆言童也.
The second character is also written Sabok (蛇卜), Sapa (蛇巴), Sabok (蛇伏), and so on, all of which mean child.
2Too many words
一日其母死,時元曉住高仙寺曉見之迎禮.福不荅拜而曰,“君我昔日䭾経牸牛今已亡矣偕葬何如.”曉曰,“諾.”遂與到家.令曉布薩授戒.臨尸祝曰,“莫生兮,其死也苦.莫死兮,其生也苦.”福曰,“詞煩.”更之曰,“死生苦兮.”二公轝帰活里山東麓.曉曰,“葬智恵虎於智恵林中不亦冝乎.”福乃作偈曰,“徃昔釋迦牟尼佛裟羅樹間入涅槃.于今亦有如彼者欲入蓮花藏界寬.”言訖拔茅莖.下有世界晃朗清虚,七寳欄楯樓閣莊嚴殆非人間世.福負尸共入其地奄然而合.曉乃還.
One day his mother died.
At that time Wonhyo was living at Goseonsa, and when Wonhyo saw him he welcomed him with a bow.
Sabok did not return the bow, but said, "The cow that once carried the sutras for you and me has now died. What if we bury her together?"
Wonhyo said, "Very well," and at last they went to the house together.
He had Wonhyo perform the posadha and confer the precepts.
Before the corpse Wonhyo prayed, "Do not be born, for dying is suffering. Do not die, for being born is suffering."
Sabok said, "Too many words."
He changed it and said, "Birth and death are suffering."
The two carried the bier to the eastern foot of Hwallisan.
Wonhyo said, "Would it not be fitting to bury the tiger of wisdom in the forest of wisdom?"
Sabok then composed a verse:
Long ago the Buddha Shakyamuni Entered nirvana between the sala trees. Now too there is one like him Who would enter the wide Lotus Treasury world.
When he finished speaking, he pulled up a stalk of grass.
Beneath it was a world, bright and clear and empty, adorned with railings and towers of the seven treasures, hardly the world of humans at all.
Sabok carried the corpse on his back and entered that land with it, and suddenly it closed.
Wonhyo then returned.
3Many wild tales were attached
後人爲創寺於金剛山東南,額曰道塲寺,每年三月十四日行占察㑹爲恒䂓.福之應世唯示此爾,俚諺多以荒唐之說托焉,可笑.讃曰.淵默龍眠豈䓁閑,臨行一曲没多般.苦兮生死元非苦,華藏浮休世界寬.
Later people built a temple southeast of Geumgangsan and named it on its plaque Doryangsa (道場寺), and made it a standing rule to hold a divination assembly every year on the fourteenth day of the third month.
Sabok's response to the world showed only this, but in country talk many wild tales have been attached to it, which is laughable.
In praise it is said:
Deep in silence, sleeping like a dragon, how could that be ordinary ease? At his departure, one tune, and not many words. Suffering, birth and death; yet at root they are not suffering, The Lotus Treasury world is wide, whether floating or sinking.