Where a saint differs from other men is in his giving guidance to the deluded and instruction to the ignorant, and thereby conferring great benefits. Thus, when I examine our Master’s conduct, I find it to be indeed the conduct of a saint! Has not Yang Hsiung[289] said: “It is only after climbing Mount T’ai that one realizes how the other mountains merely trail alongside it”? I have read dozens of stone inscriptions commemorating people of outstanding virtue in former ages, and have been moved to sigh over the swift passing of time. But it is only after learning what our Master’s conduct was like that I realize how other memorial inscriptions merely “trail alongside” his.
Alas, the buddhas of the past have completed their teaching, and those who are to come have not yet appeared. When the eyes of the world were growing dim, and the Wheel of Dharma[290] had stopped in mid-turn, the Master proved able to rise up and assist in spreading the influence of the profound teachings.[291] His spiritual powers were auspiciously responsive to need,[292] and manifested themselves in accordance with conditions throughout numberless worlds.[293]
From the little that I have seen and heard I have sought to extract the essentials, though I have thereby preserved only one part in ten thousand. It is my hope that this essay will meet with some knowledgeable person who will be able to polish and improve it.
Written on the [294] day of the first month of the eleventh year of Hsien-yung (1075).
The Life of the All-Wise Kyunyŏ, Chief Monk and Abbot of the Great Hwaŏm Kwibŏp Monastery.
(This document contains) twenty-eight pages.