- To Follow Sahng-jeh-nim
- 1 Though the food and lodgings at Gim Chi-gyung’s water mill were very poor, hardly tolerable by anyone’s standards, Gyung-suk would not leave without Sahng-jeh-nim.
- 2 He insisted that Sahng-jeh-nim stay at his house in Jung-eup County.
- 3 Sahng-jeh-nim angrily shouted, “I want nothing to do with you. Leave at once!”
- 4 Annoyed by Gyung-suk staying there, Sahng-jeh-nim ordered him to leave several times, but Gyung-suk remained
- 5 and kept entreating Sahng-jeh-nim to come to his house. Sahng-jeh-nim became angry, swore at him, and tried to drive him away,
- 6 but Gyung-suk found this more appealing.
- 7 It reminded him of a line in one of Chey Su-oon’s songs: “To whom can I tell the many hardships I suffered following that man who seemed a lunatic at one moment and a drunk the next?”
- 8 For ten days, persistent in asking to be a disciple, Gyung-suk remained.
- 9 At last, Sahng-jeh-nim said, “If you want to follow Me, settle all your affairs so that you can concentrate with one mind on what I teach you.
- 10 Return home to do this and come back here on June 1.”
- 11 After settling his personal affairs at his home, Gyung-suk returned to Yohng-ahm Village on June 1 and begged Sahng-jeh-nim to come to Jung-eup with him.
- 12 That night, Sahng-jeh-nim fell asleep on the grass and did not wake until a rooster crowed in the morning. He said to Gyung-suk, “I did not mean to fall asleep on the grass. Why did you not wake Me?”
- 13 From then on, whether Sahng-jeh-nim slept on a stone or talked with farmers in the fields, Gyung-suk attended on Him.
- 14 Sahng-jeh-nim was at first disinclined to accept Gyung-suk as a disciple, but after three days, He granted permission and said,
- 15 “I was struggling to get out of neck-deep water and had just managed to reach ankle-deep water.
- 16 Now, you are pushing Me back into neck-deep water.”
- (JSD Dojeon 3,127)
