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

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11. Making Inexhaustible Vows


總結无盡歌


Line 1 生界盡尸等隱

2        吾衣願盡尸日置仁伊而也

3        眾生叱邊衣于音毛

4        際毛冬留願海伊過

5        此如趣可伊羅行根

6        向乎仁所留善陵道也

7        伊波普賢行願

8       又都佛體叱事伊羅耶


9       阿耶 普賢叱心音阿于波

10     伊留叱餘音良他事捨齊


25.1.1-2:       UD + UD; “realm of sentient beings”.

25.1.3:          HD; “exhaust, spend”.

25.1.4-6;       UG + UG + UG; VE for 25.1.3, “when...”.


Line 1:       “When the realm of living beings is spent...”

25.2.1-2:      HD + UG; “my”.

25.2.3:         UD; “vows”.

25.2.4:         HD; “exhaust, spend”.

25.2.5:         UG; attributive VE for 25.2.4.

25.2.6:         HD; “day”.

25.2.7:         HG; “also”.

25.2.8:         UG; “be”.

25.2.9-11:    UG + UG + UG; VE for 25.2.8.


Line 2:       “... it is the day, too, when my vow is exhausted.”


25.3.1-2:      UD + UD; “sentient beings”.

25.3.3:         UG; PP.

25.3.4-8:      HG + UG + UG + UG + UG; gerundive form of the verb “awake”, thus “Enlightenment”. Yang’s reasoning here is very tentative.


Line 3:       “The Enlightenment of beings...”

25.4.1:        HD; “edge, boundary”.

25.4.2-3:     UG + UG; negative verbal prefix. In this case the verb is understood, thus “without”.

25.4.4:        UG; attributive VE for the understood verb in 25.4.2-3.

25.4.5-6:     UD + UD; “ocean of vows”.

25.4.7:        UG; “be”.

25.4.8:        UG; VE for 25.4.7.


Line 4:       "... is the boundless ocean of vows.”

25.5.1-2:     HD + HD; “this type of (end)”.

25.5.3-4:     HD + UG; “end, border”.

25.5.5-6:     UG + UG; adverb “thus”.

25.5.7:        HD; “carry out”.

25.5.8         UG; conditional VE “if’.


Line 5:       “... if one practices (vows) to this type of end...”

25.6.1:       HD; “face towards”.

25.6.2-3:    UG + UG; attributive VE for 25.6.1.

25.6.4:       HD; “place”, meaning Enlightenment.

25.6.5:       UG; preposition “to”.

25.6.6-7:    UD + UG; “virtue”.

25.6.8:       HD; “path”.

25.6.9:       UG; exclamatory verb form.


Line 6:       “It is indeed the path of virtue that leads towards this place...”

25.7.1:       UG; “this”.

25.7.2:       UG; exclamatory particle.

25.7.3-6:    UD + UD + UD + UD; “the Vows of Samantabhadra”.


Line 7:       “… these indeed (are) the Vows of Samantabhadra...”.

25.8.1:       HD + UG; “also” + FS.

25.8.3-4:    UD + UG; “the buddhas”.

25.8.5:       UG; PP.

25.8.6:       HD; “work, activities”.

25.8.7:       HG; verb “to be”, thus “is”.

25.8.8-9:    HG + UG; exclamatory VE.


Line 8:       “… (and) is also the work of the buddhas.”

25.9.1-2:    UG + UG; “Ah,...”.

25.9.3-4:    UD + UD; “Samantabhadra”.

25.9.5:       UG; PP.

25.9.6-7:    HD + UG; “mind, heart” + FC.

25.9.8:       UG; “know”.

25.9.9-10:  UG + UG; VE for 25.9.8, “knowing...”.


Line 9:       “Ah, knowing the mind of Samantabhadra...”

25.10.1:       UG; “this”.

25.10.2-3:    UG + UG; IP “with”.

25.10.4-5:    HD + UG; “remain” + FC.

25.10.6:       UG; VE for 25.10.4-5, “remaining...”

25.10.7:       UD + UD; “other matters”.

25.10.8:       HD; “part with, renounce”.

25.10.9:       UG; VE for 25.10.8, “may I (renounce)”.


Line 10:       “... may I remain with it, and renounce other things.”

This song represents Kyunyŏ’s own summation of the purpose of the Vows, and is didactic in both tone and content. A close parallelism between stanzas 1 and 2 is employed:       “when A occurs, then B will be so, because of C”.


Only when the realm of living beings is spent 

Will the force of my vows be spent.

For the Enlightenment of beings

Is (coextensive with) the boundless ocean of (the bodhisattvas’) vows.

It is indeed the path of virtue

To set oneself on such a course,

For to practise the vows of Samantabhadra

Is to carry out the activities of Buddhahood.

Ah, knowing the mind of Samantabhadra,

I shall cast aside all other activities.