稱讚如來歌
Line 1 今日部伊冬衣
2 南无 佛也白孫舌良衣
3 無尽辯才叱海等
4 一念惡中湧出去良
5 塵塵虛物叱邀呂白乎隱
6 切(功)德叱身乙對為白惡只
7 際于萬隱德海盻
8 間王冬留讚伊白制
9 隔句 必只一毛叱德置
10 毛等尽良白乎隱乃兮
16.1.1-2: UD + UD; “today”.
16.1.3: HD; “throngs, groups”.
16.1.4: UG; FS for 16.1.3.
16.1.5: HD; pluralizing particle for 16.1.3-4.
16.1.6: UG; PP.
Line 1: “Today (the tongues) of the throngs”
16.2.1-3: UG + UG + UG; transcription of Sanskrit namo Bu(ddhāya)—“Hail to the Buddha!”
16.2.4: UG; final, exclamatory particle.
16.2.5: HD; “speak, say, cry”.
16.2.6: UG; VE for 16.2.5 “which (cry)”.
16.2.7: HD; “tongues”.
16.2.8-9: UG; LP “on”.
Line 2: “... on tongues which cry “Hail to the Buddha!”
16.3.1-2: UD; “inexhaustible, boundless”.
16.3.3-4: UD; “eloquence”.
16.3.5: UG; PP “of”.
16.3.6: HD; “sea”.
16.3.7: HG; FS for 16.3.6.
Line 3: “... a sea of inexhaustible eloquence...”
16.4.1-2: UD; “(an) instant”.
16.4.3-4: UG + HG; LP “within”.
16.4.5-6: HD + HD; “gush/pour out”.
16.4.7-8: UG + UG; VE imperative mood.
Line 4: “May (they) pour forth in a single instant.”
16.5.1-2: UD + UD; “dustmotes”.
16.5.3-4: UD + UD; “empty things”, hence “illusory beings”. As Yang notes, the term sounds a little “unpolished” as Chinese, and so may have been coined within Korea. Its precise meaning is certainly unclear.
16.5.5: UG; though usually a PP, the context clearly designates it as an SP here.
16.5.6: HD; “meet, come into the presence of”.
16.5.7-10: UG + HG + UG + UG; VE to 16.5.6 “...who (meet)”.
Line 5: “... (the Form produced by merit) into whose presence the illusory beings have come.”
16.6.1-2: UD + UD; “merit”.
16.6.3: UG; PP.
16.6.4: HD; “body”.
16.6.5: UG; OP.
16.6.6-7: UD + HD; “face, turn towards”.
16.6.8-10: HG + UG + UG; VE, gerund “(face)-ing”
Line 6: “... facing the Form produced by merit...”
16.7.1: HD; “boundary”.
16.7.2-4: UG + UG + UG; probably a negative attributive. Both Yang and Kim Wanjin (1979b) extract this from the UG sequence but in both cases they are conjecturing. It is primarily from context that the meaning “(bound)less” is derived.
16.7.5: UD; “virtues”.
16.7.6: HD; “sea, ocean”.
16.7.7: UG; FS for 16.7.6. Although Yang seems to favour OP over FS, the context favours FS.
Line 7: “... boundless ocean of virtues...”
16.8.1-2: UD; “King of Transcendent Freedom”.
16.8.3: HD; pluralizing particle.
16.8.4: UG; LP “to”.
16.8.5: HD; “praise”.
16.8.6-8: UG + HG + UG; VE “May I/let me (praise)...”
Line 8: “May I give praise to the Kings of Transcendent Freedom”
16.9.1-2: HD + HD; “Ah…”.
16.9.3-4: UG + UG; “even, only, just”.
16.9.5: UD + UD; “a tiny portion (of)”, lit. “one hair (of)”.
16.9.6: UG; PP.
16.9.7: UD; “virtues”.
16.9.8: HG; “also”.
Line 9: “Ah, even so, even the virtues of a single hair (of his)...”
16.10.1-2: UG + HG; adverb “unavailingly”.
16.10.3: HD; “entirely”.
16.10.4: UG; VE for 16.10.3.
16.10.5: HD; “say, tell”.
16.10.6-9: UG + UG + UG + UG; VE. Yang describes it as “a form used in the final refrain of songs.” (p. 719), defending this view with a number of examples from LMK texts. It is therefore presumably a declamatory form.
Line 10: “... unavailingly can we (attempt to) fully tell!”
Although some grammatical particles are either not present or else ambiguous, again the meaning is reasonably clear. The song continues the theme of veneration through visualization, passing from the expression of purpose in song 1 (“May the buddhas be venerated”) to the giving of voice to this purpose. Again, it follows closely the content and imagery of the HYS original, adopting the key images “ocean of voices” and “ocean of virtues”. However, Kyunyŏ alters the sequence of the hymn in order to be able to balance the two stanzas of his song better, and employs a dynamic verb “pour forth, gush out” that is not in the original.
In structure too, song 2 follows song 1 closely, with two tightly composed, parallel four-line stanzas each culminating in an exclamatory verb. The first stanza is expressed in simpler, more concrete language, and the second stanza more overtly didactic. The progression is again from deed to consequence: “May oceans of eloquence pour forth (and so) may the buddhas be praised.”
Pour forth today in a single instant
From a myriad tongues that cry
“Hail to the Buddha!”
And so I come before the buddhas
Whom I meet in every dustmote,
And praise the boundless ocean of virtues
Of the Kings of Transcendent Freedom.
Ah, and yet they are still unable to fully tell
Of even the minutest part of his virtues