Yi-I. (16th Century)
Yi-I, or to give his popular name, Yool-kok, was Korea’s great saint. Dr. James S. Gale says of him, “. . . . his name outshines all others. He was a pupil of Yi-Whang. He spent one year studying Buddhism at the Chung-yang Temple in the Diamond Mountains. Finding no satisfaction in this he returned to Confucian teachings. “ He held many official positions and seems to have carried on his shoulders the burden of his country’s woes. He eventually withdrew into the mountains to lead a life of meditation. The “Flowery Rock Pavilion” was a name given to a favorite mountain retreat where poets frequently foregathered to admire the autumn tints of the maple trees.
The red leaves on the maple trees are still
As crimson gowns that droop when dancers rest
After the last clear flute note dies away.
Tonight there are no dancers on the hills.
Green leaves, gold leaves and red, how still they hang!
Silent the reeds and grass that yesterday
Whispered around the rice fields’ marshy rim.
Tonight the woods are sleeping. Well they know
Who walks from path to path, who goes unseen
With robes that, trailing lightly on the grass,
Shed from each fold a filmy veil of rime.
His breath, like blue smoke, lingers on the air,
Sweet, bitter, clean, the first faint breath of frost.
The lonely moon looks down on lonely hills.
Sadly above the marshes wild geese cry.