Kyunyŏ-jŏn : The life, Times and Songs of a Tenth Century Korean Monk by CHŎNG HYŎNGNYŎN - HTML preview

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3. Making Extensive Offerings


廣修供養歌


Line 1 火條執音馬

2        佛前灯乙直體良焉多衣 

3        灯炷隱須彌也 

4        灯油隱大海逸留去耶 


5       手焉法界毛叱色(巴)只為旀 

6       手良每如法叱供乙留

7       法界滿賜仁佛體 

8       佛佛周物叱供為白制


9       阿耶 法供沙叱多奈 

10     伊於衣波最勝供也


17.1.1:       HD; “fire”.

17.1.2:       HD; “sticks, tongs”.

17.1.3:       HD; “take, seize”.

17.1.4-5:    UG + UG; VE connective form.


Line 1:       “(When) I take up the fire tongs and...”

17.2.1:       UD; “the Buddha”.

17.2.2:       UD; “before, in front of”.

17.2:3:       UD; “lamp, lantern”.

17.2.4:       UG; OP.

17.2.5:       HD; “correct”, thus “trim”.

17.2.6:       UG; FS for 17.2.6.

17.2.7-10:  UG; VE “when I (trim)”.


Line 2:       “... when I trim the lamp before the buddha...”

17.3.1-2:    UD; “wick”.

17.3.3:       UG; TP.

17.3.4-5:    UD; “Mount Sumeru”.

17.3.6:       UG; final, exclamatory particle. 


Line 3:       “... the wick is Mount Sumeru [and]...”

17.4.1-2;    UD; “lamp oil”.

17.4.3:       UG; TP.

17.4.4-5:    UD; “great ocean”.

17.4.6:       HD; “exceed”, thus “become”.

17.4.7-9:    UG + HD + UG; exclamatory VE.


Line 4:       “... the lamp oil becomes a great sea!”

17.5.1:       HD; “hand”.

17.5.2;       UG; TP.

17.5.3-4:    UD + UD; “the Dharmarealm”.

17.5.5-8:    UG + UG + HG + UG; “throughout” (cf. 15.4.3-6).

17.5.9:       HD; “perform, act”.

17.5.10:     UG; VE connective form.


Line 5:       “My hands act throughout the Dharmarealm and...”

17.6.1:       HD; “hand”.

17.6.2:       UG; LP - “in”.

17.6.3-4:    HD +HG; “each, every”.

17.6.5:       UD; “Dharma”.

17.6.6:       UG; PP.

17.6.7:       UD; “offering”.

17.6.8-9:    UG; IP “as”.


Line 6:       “... in each hand, as an offering of the Dharma...”

17.7.1-2:    UD; “the Dharmarealm”.

17.7.3:       HD; “fill”.

17.7.4-5:    UG + UG; VE honorific and attributive.

17.7.6-7:    UD + UG; “the Buddha” (cf. 15.2.6-7).


Line 7:       “... the buddhas who fill the Dharmarealm.”

17.8.1-2:    UD + UD; “each buddha”.

17.8.3-5:    HD + HD + UG; “together”.

17.8.6:       UD; “offering”.

17.8.7:       HD; “perform, act”.

17.8.8-9:    HG + UG; VE exclamatory (cf. 16.8.8).


Line 8:       “... offer to each and every buddha...”.

17.9.1-2:    UG + UG; exclamation “Ah,...”.

17.9.3-4:    UD + UD; “offering of the Dharma.”

17.9.5-6:    UG + UG; emphatic TP.

17.9.7:       HD; “many”.

17.9.8:       UG; VE “many but...”


Line 9:       “Ah, offerings of the Dharma indeed are many, but”

17.10.1:      UG; “this”.

17.10.2-4:   UG + UG + UG; an exclamatory phrase “truly, really, indeed”.

17.10.5-8:   UD; “the most worthy offering”.

17.10.9:      UG; final, exclamatory particle.


Line 10:       “... this is truly the most worthy offering!”

Song 3 progresses from songs 1 and 2 as thought (song 1) leads to speech (song 2) and now to action. Again, the imagery is drawn entirely from the HYS original, but from the multitude of offerings listed in the HYS passage, Kyunyŏ has chosen the simple, concrete one of lighting lamps. In structure, there are again two four-line stanzas culminating in exclamatory verbs, and again the song moves from a physical action to its religious significance, but the two stanzas lack the close parallelism evident in songs 1 and 2. The first stanza contains four short independent clauses:       a) When I fake the tongs and b) trim the lamp before the Buddha, c) the wick becomes Mount Sumeru and d) the lamp-oil the vast ocean, and no attributives, whereas the second stanza contains only two, with the long clause in lines 6, 7 and 8 breaking the tension created by the previous short ones.


When I take up the fire tongs

And trim lamps before the Buddha,

The wick becomes a Mount Sumeru

And its oil the vast surrounding sea.


My hands perform such deeds throughout the Dharmarealm,

And with each hand as a Dharma offering,

I make offerings to each and every one of the buddhas That fill the Dharmarealm.


Ah, though there are many offerings to the Dharma,

This offering surpasses them all.