Yi Whang. (Circa 1549 A.D.)
Head of the Confucian College and the greatest master of his day, he was familiarly known to his followers as Master To-ike. He was one of the wisest counsellors who ever helped to rule Korea. He survived the Moo-o Sa-Wha but many of his best friends were killed and the shadow of this tragedy tinged all his later poetry. The chief inspiration of his life seems to have been found in Yi Chah Yun, the hermit poet of the 12th century. Yi Whang spent years studying this man’s works and once made a pilgrimage into the Pyungsan Hills to visit the hermit’s cave.
Grey mountains crowd against the evening sky.
The river swings away toward the west.
I follow on and on, with beating heart,
For every step of this steep road he trod.
Here, in the Pyungsan Hills the master dwelt,
Ploughing alone the field that gave him food.
Dreaming of such a sage the ages fade.
Just as that rising moon fills all the sky
With radiant light, so his great soul remains
Forever radiant and forever one
With mountain peaks that only seek the clouds.
They loved him. Still they echo his great thought,
Still hold the boundless peace that is his soul.
Their silence was the splendor that he knew.
For him the wrangling glory of our world
Was but a cobweb swept before the eyes.