<禱千手大悲歌>의 해독과 해설

초록

In this song, a blind child stands in front of a painting on the north wall of Bunghuang Temple, begging the thousand-eyed Kannon Bodhisattva to give him an eye. Lines 1 and 2 describe the posture of the praying child could be either seated or standing. In the seated position, one knee is raised and one leg is kneeling, while in the standing position, both knees are slightly inclined toward the Kannon Bodhisattva. Lines 3 and 4 describe praying in one of these two postures in front of a picture. Lines 4 through 8 describe the actual prayer in detail. Line 4 expresses the hope and expectation that since Avalokitesvara Guan Yin has a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, he will give me one even if I don't have one. On the other hand, “慈悲也根” in line 10 has been misinterpreted as “root of mercy”, but since “根” is used in Buddhism to refer to a bodily organ, it should be understood as “mercy eyes(慈眼)”, which appears in the admiring poem(讚詩) in the background narrative. In other words, Kannon Bodhisattva gave the blind child a compassionate eye so that the child could open his eyes. Returning to the content of lines 9 and 10, the song concludes with a rhetorical question (an assurance and a strong request through a rhetorical question) about how I can be called a merciful eye if you turn away from me.

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